Global warming may increase kidney stones So, boys and girls, what'll it be today?
Baldness? I was wondering about that ... Ummmmm...engine knock?
Painful rectal itch?
Johnson, run it through the "Global Warming causes generator".
And our answer is...kidney stones.
WASHINGTON (AFP) - More Americans are likely to suffer from kidney stones in the coming years as a result of global warming, according to researchers at the University of Texas. Our preliminary results tell us that this merits more grant mone...errrrrrrr...study.
Kidney stones, which are formed from dissolved minerals in the urine and can be extremely painful, are often caused by caused by dehydration, either by not drinking enough liquid or losing too much due to high heat conditions. So...dehydration causes kidney stones?
If global warming trends continue as projected by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2007, the United States can expect as much as a 30 percent growth in kidney stone disease in some of its driest areas, said the findings published in Monday's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The increased incidence of disease would represent between 1.6 million and 2.2 million cases by 2050, costing the US economy as much as one billion dollars in treatment costs. Not to mention billions of dollars in research grants.
"This study is one of the first examples of global warming causing a direct medical consequence for humans," said Margaret Pearle, professor of urology at University of Texas Southwestern and senior author of the paper."When people relocate from areas of moderate temperature to areas with warmer climates, a rapid increase in stone risk has been observed. This has been shown in military deployments to the Middle East for instance." So...Bush causes kidney stones?
The lead author of the research, Tom Brikowski, compared kidney stone rates with UN forecasts of temperature increases and created two mathematical models to predict the impact on future populations. Well, if the UN says so. They're never wrong...
One formula showed an increase in the southern half of the country, including the already existing "kidney stone belt" of the southeastern states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. So people in areas where people get kidney stones will see more kidney stones? Wow.
The other showed that the increase would be concentrated in the upper Midwest. Or the east. Or the north. Maybe the southwest.
"Similar climate-related changes in the prevalence of kidney-stone disease can be expected in other stone belts worldwide," the study said. So kidney stones will continue to occur in areas where people get kidney stones? Damn fine research, if ya ask me.
#4
Any mention of the additional kidney stone cases brought about by popular high protein, low carb diets (i.e.: South Beach)? I bet more occur due to that than AGW. Gonna outlaw those diets?
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/15/2008 18:07
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#5
Total and utter bunk. Sitting around in our air conditioned splendor, we get kidney stones because we don't make ourselves drink the amount of water our body requires. That is by far the most common cause of kidney stones. I know, I got three cause of that. Unlike alot of people though, I LEARNED and changed behavior to try and ensure I drink as much or more than my body requires. As a result, no new stones.
So if you don't want them, drink lots of water. ESPECIALLY if you live in places where virtually all the bedrock is limestone.
Of course, since the earth hasn't been warming the past ten years, this is just more hot air from the morons of the MMGW crowd.
#7
One formula showed an increase in the southern half of the country, including the already existing "kidney stone belt" of the southeastern states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.
The dreaded GW has also led to a dramatic increase in Kudzu. They've even named a Mountain after the bloody Stones. Don't come here... it's already too crowded and there's a serious shortage of good urolgists.
Pakistan on Tuesday asked a court not to withdraw restrictions on disgraced nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan because he risked implicating the state in nuclear proliferation, a government lawyer said.
Can't have that, now can we ...
Khan, lionised by many Pakistanis as the father of the country's atomic bomb, was pardoned but placed under house arrest by President Pervez Musharraf in 2004 soon after he made a televised confession to selling nuclear secrets to Iran, North Korea and Libya. The scientist subsequently said he had been persuaded to confess and take the rap alone for the good of Pakistan. Khan says the government broke commitments that he would be rehabilitated and allowed to move freely inside the country.
Khan's wife has filed a case in an Islamabad high court seeking his freedom, but the government on Tuesday called for tightening restrictions on the scientist, saying recent statements he had given to media were damaging to the state.
"He should not meet people freely and only should meet relatives, because statements (that) have been issued (during) these interactions have been legally damaging for Pakistan," government lawyer Ahmer Bilal Sufi told Reuters. "These were against a state institution, particularly the statement he made on July 5 that had legal affects of attributing a specific role to Pakistan which is also untrue."
In a report earlier this month, the Associated Press quoted Khan as saying the army, Musharraf and the country's spy agency had "complete knowledge" of sale of centrifuges to North Korea eight years ago.
In response, the military said Khan was seeking to falsely implicate Musharraf, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), the army and the Strategic Planning Division that oversees Pakistan's nuclear weapons.
I'm a little surprised Khan is still alive after blabbing, aren't you?
Sufi said lawyers from both sides would brief the chief justice in camera on Wednesday.
Pakistan's new coalition government, made up of parties that defeated Musharraf's allies in a February election, recently relaxed some restrictions on Khan's detention and he has been able to talk to the media on the telephone. But the government has not said it would release the 72-year-old scientist, who had surgery for prostate cancer in 2006.
The United States and an International Atomic Energy Agency team investigating nuclear proliferation want to question Khan. Pakistan has refused, saying it has shared all the information Khan has given, and now considers its investigation of Khan to be closed.
Posted by: john frum ||
07/15/2008
15:12 ||
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NEW DELHI -- Indian forces are collaborating with a vigilante group carrying out brutal attacks that have displaced tens of thousands of people in eastern India in an attempt to crush a communist uprising, a human rights group said Tuesday.
Human Rights Watch called on the Indian federal government and the Chhattisgarh state government to end their support for the Salwa Judum vigilantes and take immediate steps to protect civilians caught in the fighting. "The Chhattisgarh government denies supporting Salwa Judum, but dozens of eyewitnesses have described police participating in violent Salwa Judum raids on villages - killing, looting and burning hamlets," Jo Becket of Human Rights Watch said in a statement.
The New York-based rights group also called on the communist rebels to end their attacks on civilians and stop recruiting child soldiers.
Which group did they complain about more vociferously, the paramilitary group or the commies?
A statement by India's federal Home Ministry in response to the report did not directly address the accusations but said, "India is a thriving democracy and has adequate institutional mechanisms to ensure that human rights of its citizens are protected."
State officials were not immediately available for comment. In the past they have denied supporting the Salwa Judum.
The rebels, known as Naxalites, have been fighting to create a communist state since 1967 and are active in 13 of India's 28 states. But Chhattisgarh, one of India's most underdeveloped states, is the heartland of their struggle. The rebels' rallying cry of land and jobs for the poor resonates deeply with the population, many of them from India's impoverished indigenous peoples and resentful at the authorities that mine the region's rich natural resources with little benefit to the locals.
Since 2005, the Salwa Judum has been fighting the Naxalites and also forcing people from rebel-controlled villages into large camps, saying it is for their protection.
The government says the Salwa Judum is an independent movement that sprang up in reaction to the Naxalites, but Human Rights Watch said the vigilantes have deep connections to the state.
More than 100,000 people have been displaced in the violence, the rights group said. It called on the government to help resettle the people. "Officials should help restore the lives of those who wish to return to their homes," said Becket, one of the researchers for the 182-page report.
The report also slammed the Naxalites, who say they are inspired by Chinese communist revolutionary leader Mao Zedong, accusing them of attacking civilians and using child soldiers as young as 12 years old.
Posted by: john frum ||
07/15/2008 16:16
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#2
OK, I'm the Boss now! All my cookies are burned!
Human Rights, Green Peace, Amnesty, etc. etc. etc.(the King and I), are all remnants from the Cold War. They should ignored just like the trolls they are.
Posted by: Boss Thereter5869 ||
07/15/2008 20:02
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(ANSA) - Rome, July 15 - The ancients' version of Formula 1 could once again enliven the Italian capital, with a series of high-speed chariot races.
The historical society Vadis Al Maximo hopes to stage a major event next year, which would reproduce the thrills and spills of competitive charioteering, beloved of both the Romans and Greeks. ''The event would last three days, starting on October 17, at the same period when the race took place in Roman times,'' explained Vadis Al Maximo head, Franco Calo.
''If possible, we hope to involve charioteers from all over the world''. The initiative is still being studied by various municipal departments but if given the go-ahead, it would be staged in October 2009, as a city-wide event. ''All the main squares of the capital would be transformed into scenes from Ancient Rome, using props on loan from the Cinecitta film studios,'' said Calo. But the effort involved in staging such an event would be enormous. ''According to our calculations, the Circus Maximus area could hold up to 35,000 people,'' he said. ''Various maxi-screens would therefore need to be installed at various points outside the course so that people could watch the races''. Restoring Rome's Circus Maximus would include setting up platforms, security exits, a sidewalk, a stage at the centre of the course, a ditch and outdoor stables. It would also require the assistance of other organizations, including the sports department of Cinecitta for costumes and scenery, municipal authorities for public parking and security, and riding groups for the horses and race training.
Although the Circus Maximus was the backdrop for a variety of games in Roman times, chariot-racing was the most important and popular event. At its height, the course could accommodate 12 chariots, each drawn by teams of four horses. Like Formula 1, the race was fast-paced and dangerous, often ending in crashes in which competitors died. The course covered a distance of about 6.5 kilometres and started at one end of the track, where teams were released from staggered starting gates to ensure everyone travelled equal distances - just like in modern races. Spectacular, four-horse chariot races have already been staged in several locations abroad over the last few years. The first took place a few years ago in a rediscovered Roman hippodrome in Jerash, Jordan, while the Stade de France in Paris has hosted two such events.
The Trabrenn-Bahn Karlshors in Berlin has a race lined up for September, as does the Bulgarian border town of Svishtov.
But there is still some way to go in Rome.
''This is the natural place [to host such events] but it's just more complicated here,'' said Calo.
Damn! Mahmoud! Photoshop more missiles!
NEW YORK - Oil prices tumbled Tuesday as U.S. stocks sold off amid worries about the nation's economic health. Prices dropped more than $10 a barrel from their highest point of the day. At midday, light, sweet crude fell $6.27 to $138.91 in an extremely volatile session.
The turnaround may not signal a lasting shift in sentiment prices have swung violently in recent days as they flirted with record highs. But it does underscore investor uncertainty about the sustainability of sky-high prices and their effect on the broader economy. "They're slamming this pretty good. But remember, these $10 moves are becoming a little more commonplace," said Phil Flynn, analyst at Alaron Trading Corp. in Chicago. Earlier, the contract rose as high as $146.73 and fell as low as $135.92.
The ingredients for further gains were in place early on. The dollar fell to a new low against the euro, prompting investors to pour money into oil as a hedge against inflation and made crude cheaper for overseas buyers. Meanwhile, threats to supply from Iran, Nigeria and Brazil provided a solid floor on oil prices. But neither were strong enough slow oil's rapid decline before noon.
"Traders are always looking for signals. When they see the market fail to respond to bullish news, they sometimes sell their positions," said Jim Ritterbusch, president of energy consultancy Ritterbusch and Associates. "Traders get spooked."
Mounting worries about the health of the U.S. economy helped spur the sell-off. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress that "numerous difficulties" are racking the economy of the world's largest oil consumer, and warned that rising prices for energy and food are heightening the risk of inflation accelerating. At the same time, the Labor Department reported that wholesale inflation jumped by 1.8 percent last month, a larger-than-expected gain. Over the past year, wholesale prices have risen 9.2 percent, the most since 1981.
Bernanke's sobering comments and lingering concerns about the health of the financial sector helped drive stocks down sharply. In midmorning trading, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 180.51, or 1.63 percent, to 10,874.68. Broader indexes also sank."The oil market appears to be paying more attention to a 200 point drop in the Dow Jones rather that the new highs for the euro," Ritterbusch said.
A five-day strike by Brazilian oil workers that began early Monday also seemed to have less effect than feared. The action cut production of government-run Petroleo Brasileiro SA, or Petrobras, by only about 4 percent by Monday evening. Petrobras produces about 1.6 million barrels of oil a day."We are not making a big case of the strike in Brazil as it is well defined in time, hence carries little un-priced risk. Furthermore the output loss estimates have been continuously revised down during the day," Olivier Jakob, an analyst at Petromatrix in Switzerland, said in a research note.
Soaring oil prices are taking a toll on drivers the world over, stoking fears that sustained high fuel costs could crimp global demand. General Motors Corp., the leading U.S. automaker, said it is assuming oil prices will hover between $130 to $150 a barrel next year. The company made the prediction as it laid out plans to slash jobs and truck production, suspend its dividend and borrow up to $3 billion as it grapples with an ailing U.S. economy and record high fuel prices.
Retail gas prices in the U.S. remained at a record near $4.11 a gallon, according to auto club AAA, the Oil Price Information Service and Wright Express. Diesel rose six-tenths of a penny to its own high of $4.83 a gallon.
#1
a number of people are predicting that the Chicoms will stop subsidizing gasoline consumption or, at least, drastically reduce it subsequent to the summer Olympics.
#5
US Public pressure to drill increases, President Bush says DRILL and backs it up with words and deeds: he removes the execute ban.
Prices drop $10 in a day.
Cause and effect.
OK all you who said drilling will have no short term impact, care to admit those of us who said the opposite were right? Care to read up on the marketplace, and how futures work, and how speculators exploited it with cheap money (margin)?
Futures are being driven by speculation and supply-demand of contracts, not supply-demand of oil.
That's a fundamental cause of this mess.
Increasing supply, even the threat of it, will drop prices since that removes one of the things they depend on- continued constrained supply in the face of rising demand.
The other parts needed are the remove the ability to trade futures on margins, and to restrict the market participants to those who either produce or consume the oil, or their direct agents.
Get a marketplace that will base the price on supply and demand of the commodity in question, not the supply and demand for contracts by speculators. Bring the market back to producers and consumers.
#6
Oil is being used in much the same role that gold has been in the past. The idea being that oil would maintain value in the face of dollar fluctuation. We have major financial institutions buying and storing large quantities of oil for use as a hedge against the dollar. Gold can't be used in that context anymore because the supply of it is too small. Purchasing a few hundred million dollars with of gold has a greater impact on market prices than a few hundred million dollars worth of oil does.
But it does cause some change and that change is amplified when thousands of individuals sitting on the sidelines suddenly jump into the market. The financial institutions are in it for the long term. The intend to take delivery and store the oil. The speculators simply want to turn a quick buck and be out of the contract before it expires. So the speculators are easily spooked out of the market if they believe prices will stabilize or if they believe OTHERS will believe prices will stabilize. It is a psychological game with the speculators.
If Iran launches another photoshop, it might send "supply jitters" into the market and lead speculators to believe the market will rise. This might cause them to flock back in and the market does indeed rise ... and the bet one makes is that one can get out of the market with a profit before it falls again.
But after Iran's last fisaco, this might not fly anymore.
#8
The other parts needed are the remove the ability to trade futures on margins, and to restrict the market participants to those who either produce or consume the oil, or their direct agents.
It's a nice idea but the net effect of those moves would be to relocate lucrative futures trading to foreign markets where we exert no control. If the money's going to be made it might as well be made here.
#9
Yeah, Queen Nancy Pelosi said that drilling would not have any effect before 10 years. This woman is incompetent and out of touch. She doesn't understand economics or markets. No wonder Washington limousine liberals are so eager to spend, spend and spend and regulate, regulate, and regulate.
Liberated after six years of jungle captivity, Franco-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt exclaimed: "I think only the Israelis can possibly pull off something like this." If only.
Tomorrow, the Israeli government is scheduled to release five Lebanese prisoners, including a man named Samir Kuntar more on him in a moment in exchange for two of its kidnapped soldiers, Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, and information concerning the fate of airman Ron Arad, missing since 1986. The exchange might seem semiequitable, if only the three Israelis weren't all presumed dead.
Israel is also trying to negotiate the release of Gilad Shalit, kidnapped by Hamas and held in the Gaza Strip since June 2006. Cpl. Shalit is almost certainly alive. The asking price for his freedom, should terms ever be met, will be high: Hamas has already turned down cold an Israeli offer to release 450 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for their one hostage.
Israel's predicament is a self-inflicted wound. In 2004, Israel released some 400 prisoners, including Hezbollah cause célèbres Abdel Karim Obeid and Mustafa Dirani, in exchange for the remains of three Israeli soldiers and a living former army colonel named Elhanan Tannenbaum, described in press reports as a "businessman." It later became public that Mr. Tannenbaum's business was drug dealing.
It was clear what was coming next. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah welcomed his returning comrades by saying he was "more determined than ever" to wage war on Israel. He added that more kidnappings would be in store for Israelis unless they promptly released Kuntar. Israel refused. Sure enough, in July 2006 Regev and Goldwasser were kidnapped by Hezbollah, sparking a war in which 163 Israelis were killed.
Now Kuntar, 45, is about to be freed. In 1979, he took an Israeli family hostage in the northern coastal town of Nahariya, shot and killed father Danny Haran and dashed the skull of his 4-year-old daughter Einat against a rock with his rifle butt. Danny's wife, Smadar, managed to hide from Kuntar in a crawl space of their apartment with two-year-old daughter Yael, whom she accidentally suffocated while trying to keep the toddler quiet. A policeman was also killed in the attack.
Kuntar was sentenced to 548 years in prison. In 1985, Palestinian terrorists seized the Achille Lauro cruise ship to win Kuntar's release. Wheelchair-bound U.S. passenger Leon Klinghoffer was murdered along the way. Kuntar has never repented and recently vowed to continue fighting once released."My oath and pledge," he wrote Sheik Nasrallah in a letter reprinted in a Palestinian newspaper, "is that my place will be at the battlefront, which is soaked in the sweat of your giving, and the blood of the most beloved among men, and that I shall continue down the path, until complete victory." Tomorrow's plans call for Kuntar to be flown to Beirut in a Lebanese Army helicopter, to be festively received by the heads of the Lebanese government. Such are their heroes.
Barring the surprise that Regev and Goldwasser are alive, the most Israel gets in return for this exchange is a decent burial for the soldiers, no small thing for their families. As for Arad, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has deemed Hezbollah's 80-page report about his fate "absolutely unsatisfactory," a point that might yet delay or abort the exchange.
But whatever happens, Israel has once again demonstrated to its enemies that their strategy of taking hostages works. Worse, it works even when those hostages are killed. If Regev and Goldwasser are dead, the situation of Cpl. Shalit and any other Israeli who might be taken alive by Hezbollah or its ilk becomes infinitely more precarious.
This is more than just a problem for Israel. With its July 1976 raid on Entebbe, Israel demonstrated there was an alternative to negotiating with terrorists. That didn't mean that every hostage rescue attempt would end happily. But it did offer the possibility that, eventually, hostage takers would realize they're in a bad business. Instead, business has boomed. In Iraq in 2005, Germany paid $5 million for the freedom of a kidnapped aid worker. The results were predictable. As Britain's Guardian reported last year: "Because it is known that the German government like those of Italy and France is willing to pay ransoms, the 'value' of German kidnap victims has risen in the Middle East." The three German tourists recently kidnapped by the Kurdish PKK are only the latest "beneficiaries" of past German largess.
Maybe it's par for the course that European governments should act this way: The notion of moral hazard is nearly as alien to them as that of national honor. It's a different matter when Israel behaves the same way, not only because it is the prime target of attack, but because, in the face of terrorism, Israel still defines the standard of democratic courage by which the rest of the free world must, sooner or later, measure itself.
If Israel is no longer prepared to hold the line, will America be far behind?
#1
May God damn Olmert to everlasting Hell for releasing Kuntar. That murdering son of a syphilitic she-camel deserved the most painful torture and death anyone could possibly devise for him.
#2
May God damn Olmert to everlasting Hell for releasing Kuntar.
It's not Olmert's fault that Kuntar wasn't sentenced to death and executed, as he should have been. Olmert has some part of the blame for carrying out the exchange. But so does the Israeli electorate for abolishing the death penalty in 1954. And for giving Kadima the biggest block of votes in the election.
#3
So-o-o IIUC, Israel is responsible for the German, etc. $$$ payout to Terrorism, as oppos to the 1972 MUNICH OLYMPICS or even ACHILLE LAURO response???
#4
"But so does the Israeli electorate for abolishing the death penalty in 1954."
Well, they didn't abolish it for everything, thankfully. They're the one death-penalty abolishing country I'm willing to cut some slack to, all things considered.
#1
A disgruntled city computer engineer has virtually commandeered San Francisco's new multimillion-dollar computer network, altering it to deny access to top administrators even as he sits in jail on $5 million bail, authorities said Monday.
#7
BP, tu3031 said it was every IT guy's DREAM - not reality.
Posted by: Rambler in California ||
07/15/2008 17:54
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#8
Looks like the filters ate my snark comment. Let's try again:
San Francisco gummint can't access the internet?
The pr0n industry's finances just went into free-fall....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/15/2008 18:44
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#9
A bunch of pi$$ed off computer geeks could be devastating to a modern society organized around computers. Ah I still have fond memories of living on a farm in Michigan in the 1940s. The farm did not have electricity because nearly all efforts and resources were directed towards winning WWII. Visiting the outdoor $hithouse in the winter was a challenge. The younger posters here probably wouldn't really appreciate the musings of an old codger. It might be difficult but we could exist and live without computers!
FOR a variety of reasons, Pakistans policymakers have either not fully realised where the potential of the economy lies or were forced into taking decisions that were not in the economys long-term interest.
They did not make use of the impressive endowments of the country to develop an economy that would have grown rapidly without interruptions and could have become a vibrant part of the global system.
Had they promoted the development of agriculture, in particular high value-added crops; encouraged the growth of small and medium-sized industries using the skills traditionally available to the economy; invested in educating and training the countrys large and young population; focused on using trade to better integrate the economy with the global system; and created a political structure that provided a voice to the diverse segments of the population, the country today would be in a happier economic, political and social situation. Instead it faces perhaps the worse economic crisis in its history.
While a number of structural weaknesses low level of domestic savings, poorly developed human resources, inefficient attention given to the countrys endowments, and a system of governance that did not give a voice to the people have been present since the countrys birth more than six decades ago, another structural fault line developed gradually over time. I am referring here to the system of economic governance.
Even under the British who ruled for 99 years from 1848 to 1947 there was much greater autonomy available to the provinces than is the case in modern Pakistan. Since Pakistan was managed most of the time by bureaucracies with strong command and control traditions, power has shifted to the centre. For the first 11 years, members of the civil services (in particular the Civil Service of Pakistan, the CSP) were important policymakers; since 1958, the military has governed for 32 years.
Both institutions believe in highly centralised systems of economic and political management. That approach left little room to the provinces even when as was the case with the Constitution of 1973 the political structure was built on two pillars, the central and provincial administrations.
The model of economic development followed in the past, particularly during the period of President Pervez Musharraf, had one other consequence. Since there was a high level of dependence on external flows, the economy plunged and went into a crisis whenever external support was reduced or withdrawn. This happened in the late 1960s and in the late 1980s and the early 1990s, when the United States reduced its support for the country.
The crisis that now engulfs the economy is not the result of withdrawal of official flows. It has been produced by a combination of external developments over which Pakistans policymakers have no influence and because of the serious failures of public policy, especially over the last decade. The situation has been exacerbated by the process of transition from military rule that is currently under way. As several observers have noted, policymaking in Islamabad is adrift with nobody really in charge.
An analysis of the flow of official assistance to Pakistan reveals not only large transfers during the periods Pakistan was needed by the United States for strategic reasons. Also apparent from the data is a seeming association between economic stress and official capital flows. This correspondence remains even if we factor out the resources provided by the International Monetary Fund, an institution that provides assistance to countries in economic difficulties. What the capital flow data therefore suggests is that Pakistan was able to tap friendly countries during critical periods.
I can testify that this is the case from my own experience as finance minister in 1996-97 when I took leave of absence from the World Bank to join the caretaker administration that took office following the dismissal of the government of Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. After I assumed office it was revealed to me that foreign reserves had declined to well below $100 million.
The State Bank of Pakistan, the countrys central bank, did not have enough in its reserves to pay the bills that were due to such preferred creditors as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. Pakistan faced default. I travelled to Beijing (where I met the prime minister) and to Abu Dhabi (where I met the governor of the UAE central bank) and was able to raise close to a billion dollars, enough to pay the bills during my brief tenure in office.
I was able to do this not because I had any special negotiating skills. It was clear to me that several friendly governments would not allow Pakistan to go under. The Chinese and UAE decisions were similar in a way to the rescue operation launched in March 2008 by the US Federal Reserve Bank, the Fed, to rescue Bear Stearns, the investment bank, from collapsing under the weight of the debts it had built up.
The Fed acted to prevent contagion in the financial markets. Similar logic applies to countries in Pakistans situation where serious economic problems could produce unpleasant social and political effects in sensitive areas such as those in which the country is located.
This experience of the donors launching rescue operations during periods of extreme distress has created a situation of moral hazard for Pakistan: the belief that even if the policymakers dont take corrective measures and change the structure of the economy, the country will be saved by its friends across the globe. If Pakistan is to be helped out of its present predicament, as it should be, the donors should attach some conditions to the help they are providing.
Given the way the situation is evolving in and around Pakistan, this may be a good moment for the community of international donors to step in vigorously with the aim of guiding the country and its citizenry towards a better and a more certain economic and political future. The donor response should be well developed, based on a strategy of economic reform and political development along with the promise of a large infusion of funds. But the donors will step in as a group only if Pakistan appeals to them for help. At the moment it seems to be approaching individual countries for assistance.
Such an approach is neither good for Pakistan nor for those in the world who would be willing to help the country out of a difficult situation. What is needed is a concerted, collective action based on a promise of reform by Islamabad.
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Posted by: john frum ||
07/15/2008 15:08
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#3
As a countryman I am filled with dismay at this abject state of affairs - where o where is the promised land of opportunities that our forefathers sacrificed to attain this !???
Posted by: john frum ||
07/15/2008 16:04
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#5
As V. S. Naipaul, an expert on the history of the region put it in his book, Beyond Belief: Islamic Excursions Among the Converted Peoples
It was Muslim insecurity that led to the call for the creation of Pakistan. It went at the same time with an idea of old glory, of the invaders sweeping down from the northwest and looting the temples of Hindustan and imposing the faith on the infidel. The fantasy still lives; and for the Muslim converts of the subcontinent it is the start of their neurosis, because in this fantasy the convert forgets who or what he is and becomes the violator. P. 247
The Indian subcontinent had been bloodily partitioned to create the state of Pakistan. Millions had died, and many more had been uprooted, on both sides of the new frontiers. More than a hundred million Muslims had been abandoned on the Indian side, but virtually all the Hindus and Sikhs had been chased away from Pakistan.
Islam is in its origins an Arab religion. Everyone not an Arab who is a Muslim is a convert. Islam is not simply a matter of conscience or private belief. It makes imperial demands. A converts worldview alters. His holy places are in Arab lands; his language is Arabic. His idea of history alters. He rejects his own; he becomes, whether he likes it or not, a part of the Arab story. The convert has to turn away from everything that is his. The disturbance for societies is immense, and even after a thousand years can remain unresolved; the turning away has to be done again and again. People develop fantasies about who and what they are; and in the Islam of the converted countries there is an element of neurosis and nihilism. These countries can be easily set on the boil.
Posted by: john frum ||
07/15/2008 16:14
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TONY Blair was today forced to scrap plans to visit Gaza in his new role as a Middle East peace envoy after an assassination plot warning.
The former Prime Minister was warned he faced an attempt on his life after the Israeli security services received 'pinpoint information' of a threat to him.
Blair's trip to Gaza was to have included meetings with local traders and UN officials - but not with leaders of Hamas - and comes after he called for a new police towards the region to aleviate the suffering of people there.
A spokesman for Blair said it would have been irresponsible to visit in light of the terrorist threat, but added: "He looks forward to being able to go to Gaza again in the future and will of course in the meantime continue to work to improve the conditions for the people there."
"We were virtually there and had to turn back. The Israeli government did not deliberately stop the visit; they had genuine information. A specific and credible threat was made and we had to assess that," Blair said, adding that the decision not to go was made by his own security team.
Israeli media had reported that the Israeli General Intelligence Services (Shabak) had received information concerning a "very serious" threat to assassinate Blair, which prompted him to cancel his visit to the sector.
But, of course...
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri also said that Blair's visit was cancelled because of pressure by the Israeli forces as "such visits prove the failure of the Israeli policy of blockade." He adding that Israeli official sources said that Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak contacted Blair shortly before the visit was due to start. "This proves the role of the Israelis in the cancellation of this visit," Abu Zuhri concluded.
Nope, nuthin to do with the psychopaths who happen to live here. Just them damn Jooos, as usual...
#3
The former Prime Minister was warned he faced an attempt on his life after the Israeli security services received 'pinpoint information' of a threat to him.
A Jewish malady---we like to hear ourself talk too much.
#3
Sort of standard coverage at any other Club Med. People pay good bucks to wear even less in those warm climates. It would be less than nice to do that here however.
Rival Santa Claus leaders have been engaged in a decidedly unfestive power struggle that has polarised the lucrative US grotto market and forced hundreds of Father Christmases to choose between warring rival groups.
The hostilities have spilled on to the internet, in this case Elf Net, an online chat group where Santas go to exchange information on belt supplies and beard dyeing.
Organisers of the annual convention in Kansas of the Amalgamated Order of Real-Bearded Santas, fear it will be disrupted by splitters from rival groups such as the Fraternal Order and the Red Suit Society. . . .
Posted by: Mike ||
07/15/2008
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In Vegas a coupla years ago, and I sit down to play a little r0ulette. Look around, and they're all Santa Claus's. Next table over, all Santas. Table across, all Santa's. Santa Claus Convention.
It's really wierd gambl1ng with Santa Claus. And could those guys drink...
#1
Mr. Khadr's mood varies from dejected to hopeless for much of the released footage. At one point he lifts his shirt over his head to show extensive wounds he suffered during the 2002 Afghan firefight where he was captured."You say this is healthy?" he tells his interrogator. "I can't move my arm."
You're a lot healthier then the guy you killed douchbag . I hope every day is pure pain for the little prick.
We posted about Australian blogger Olive Riley last year. She was 107 years old when she started her blog, The Life of Riley. Olive was 108 when she died Saturday in a nursing home. Link to story. Link to blog.
Posted by: Mike ||
07/15/2008
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Sadly I wasn't able to go back to the February or March 2007 posts to see the first ones. Hopefully they were archived.
Posted by: Grenter, Protector of the Geats ||
07/15/2008 12:34
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IIRC, she was not only the oldest Blogger but her blog-website per se was also one of the first [but not THE first]back in the 1990's + by a woman + wid forum/messageboard. IIRC, 1990's > SHE WAS KUDOED FOR BEING A NET PIONEER AS A BLOGGER + AS A WOMAN.
D *** NG, DON'T RECALL RIGHT NOW BUT THERE WAS A BRIT MEDIA/NET ARTICLE RECENTLY ON WOMEN MEETING TOGETHER TO DISCUSS "SERIOUS" WORLDLY + PROFESSIONAL ISSUES AND PROBS, + RUNNING THE WORLD.
Appropriate in honor of her passing and being a Net pioneer.
Up to one in ten bombs dropped by the German Luftwaffe failed to detonate leaving a deadly legacy which still lies under the nation's streets and fields.
The new map will be used by builders to tell them the risks from unexploded bombs where they are working. Members of the public will also be able to access the map, which identifies 21,000 locations where there could be unexploded bombs.
Experts have studied aerial photographs taken by the RAF after the war and maps created by insurance companies to assess the extent of the bombing damage. They have been able to pinpoint sites across the UK where unexploded munitions are most likely to be concealed. The cities with the highest number of sites are London, Plymouth, Bristol, Manchester and Birmingham. . . .
The online maps are available for all major cities and areas of the countryside where bombings took place.
Unexploded German bombs are still unearthed across Britain, with relative frequency, in gardens, fields, allotments and building sites, where their sudden discovery can cause lengthy and expensive disruptions. . . .
Posted by: Mike ||
07/15/2008
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Up to one in ten bombs dropped by the German Luftwaffe failed to detonate
Considerably worse than our cluster bomb reliability, wasn't it?
Posted by: Menhaden S ||
07/15/2008 7:49
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As opposed to unexploded bombs now being assembled in flats and mosques across the country now?
#4
There are reportedly also still 00's, perhaps 000's, of unrecovered remains Britain of German, British, and Allied aircraft left in Britain [France/Channel?], espec near present and abandoned WW2 airfields and targets.
#5
Remember that anything dropped or fired by Germany after about fall of 1940 stood a very good chance of being assembled or manufactured by occupied or slave labor. The contribution those souls made to Germany's defeat will never be fully appreciated.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
07/15/2008 21:42
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District officials will begin accepting applications for hand gun permits in a few days, but the nation's capital will still have the most restrictive gun laws in the nation.
D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty, D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier and D.C. Acting Attorney General Peter Nickles unveiled the emergency legislation and regulations to repeal the city's ban on handguns on Monday.
There are four main components to the proposed legislation:
1. D.C. will continue to ban handguns in most places, with the exception of use in the home for immediate self-defense purposes. Sawed-off shotguns, machine guns and short-barreled rifles are still prohibited.
2. D.C. Police will need to perform a ballistics test on all hand guns to determine if the gun is stolen or has been used in a crime.
3. Guns in the home must be stored unloaded and either disassembled or secured with a trigger lock or in a gun safe -- except in cases of "reasonably perceived threat of immediate harm."
4. D.C. residents who legally register handguns will not be required to have licenses to carry them in their home.
Nickles says the most controversial restrictions will be the ban on semi-automatics and the requirement to keep a trigger lock on the gun. "We expect a lot of public input," Nickles says. "We probably expect also a lawsuit."
Applicants will have to take a written test, be fingerprinted and undergo a background check before they can take a gun home. It's unlikely that stand alone gun stores will be allowed to open, and people may need to re-register their guns annually.
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/15/2008
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D.C. Guns Legal, Just Nearly Impossible to Get(Legally)
#3
3. Guns in the home must be stored unloaded and either disassembled or secured with a trigger lock or in a gun safe -- except in cases of "reasonably perceived threat of immediate harm."
FAIL
Didn't these arrogant a-holes read the supreme court decision that said storage requirements and disassembely/trigger-locks are UNCONSTITUTIONAL?
Same goes for banning semi-auto pistols.
ANd the annual reregistration is also probably unconstitutional as well.
When will these morons finally understand that this is a RIGHT not a privelege?
#4
Hell our governor is ready to let you pack heat in the airport.
Gov. Sonny Perdue said Monday that he believes guns should be allowed in the nonsecure areas of Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, but said the issue is likely to be settled in court.
#5
The only way, peacefully, to get this resolved is to haul all involved before a federal grand jury for civil rights violations and conspiracy and MAKE IT STICK. No plea bargaining. Be assured it will have a broad effect on other jurisdictions.
#8
the height of petty bitchiness on the part of these loons...they rightfully get their ass kicked in the RKBA debate by SCOTUS and then want to do the lawfare bit to make it a total pain in the arse to attempt to get a firearm - total B.S.
Mayor Fenty/Chief Lanier & AG Nickles have no common sense.
#9
OS is right. Driving on a state road is a privelege. Owning a firearm is a right - big difference. I don't need to take a test. We banned the written testing of voters as it was an infringement on their right (not sure if I agree w/that now in practice for a lot of idiots but the principle remains).
#11
#3 and #1 are not compatible. If your gun is stored unloaded, disassembled or has a trigger lock, you could die before your firearm does you much good. If you are a law-abiding citizen you ought to be able to carry concealed, period. Thugs and criminals are not much inhibited by firearm laws.
If there is one element of moral and political certainty that cements the liberal consensus more than any other, it is the complacent view that while Iraq is "a war of choice," it is really and only Afghanistan that is a war of necessity. The ritualistic solidity of this view is impressive. It survives all arguments and all evidence. Just in the last month, as the Iraqi-based jihadists began to beat a retreat and even (according to some reports) to attempt to relocate to Afghanistan and Pakistan, it still seemed to many commentators that this proved that no U.S. forces should have been wasted on Iraq in the first place. This simplistic view ignores, at a minimum, the following points:
1. Many of the al-Qaida forcesmost notably the horrific but now deceased Abu Musab al-Zarqawimade their way to Iraq in the first place only after being forcibly evicted from Afghanistan. Thus, if one did not want to be confronting Bin Laden fans in Mesopotamia, it was surely a mistake to invade Afghanistan rather than Iraq.
2. The American presence in Afghanistan is not at all "unilateral"; it meets every liberal criterion of being formally underwritten and endorsed and armed and reinforced by our NATO and U.N. allies. Indeed, the commander of the anti-Taliban forces is usually not even an American. Yet it is in these circumstances that more American casualtiesand not just American onesare being experienced than are being suffered in Iraq. If this is so, the reason cannot simply be that our resources are being deployed elsewhere.
3. Many of the most successful drives against the Taliban have been conducted by American forces redeployed from Iraq, in particular from Anbar province. But these military victories are the result of counterinsurgent tactics and strategies that were learned in Iraq and that have been applied triumphantly in Afghanistan.
In other words, any attempt to play off the two wars against each other is little more than a small-minded and zero-sum exercise. And consider the implications. Most people appear now to believe that it is quite wrong to mention Saddam Hussein even in the same breath as either a) weapons of mass destruction or b) state-sponsored terrorism. I happen to disagree, but just for an experiment, let us imagine that some regime did exist or did arise that posed such a combination of threats. (Actually, so feverish is my imagination that I can even think of one whose name also begins with I.) Would we be bound to say, in public and in advance, that the Western alliance couldn't get around to confronting such a threat until it had Afghanistan well under control? This would be rather like the equivalent fallacy that nothing can be done in the region until there is a settlement of the Israel-Palestine dispute. Not only does this mean that every rogue in the region can reset his timeline until one of the world's oldest and most intractable quarrels is settled, it also means that every rogue has an incentive to make certain that no such settlement can ever occur. (Which is, of course, why Saddam threw, and now the Iranians throw, their support to the suicide-murderers.)
It would also be very nice to accept another soft-centered corollary of the Iraq vs. Afghanistan trade-off and to believe that the problem of Afghanistan is a problem only of the shortage of troops. Strangely, this is not the view of the Afghan government or of any of the NATO forces on the ground. The continued and, indeed, increasing insolence of the Taliban and its al-Qaida allies is the consequence of one thing and one thing only. These theocratic terrorists know that they have a reliable backer in the higher echelons of the Pakistani state and of its military-intelligence complex and that while this relationship persists, they are assured of a hinterland across the border and a regular supply of arms and recruits.
So, the question for Sen. Barack Obama and his glib supporters is this: Would they solve this problem by removing the American forces from Iraq and putting the thereby-enhanced contingent there to patrol a frontier where one of our main "allies" is continually engaged in stabbing them in the back? (At one point last year, Obama himself appeared to accept the illogic of his own position and spoke hotly of the possibility of following the Taliban onto Pakistani soil. We haven't heard much of that lately. Did he mean to say that, come to think of it, we had enough troops to occupy three countries instead of the stipulated and solitary one? Or would he just exchange Iraq for Pakistan? At least we do know for sure that Pakistan has nuclear weapons acquired mainly by piracy and is the host and patron of the Taliban and al-Qaida.)
Another consideration obtrudes itself. If it is true, as yesterday's three-decker front-page headline in the New York Times had it, that "U.S. Considering Stepping Up Pace of Iraq Pullout/ Fall in Violence Cited/ More Troops Could Be Freed for Operations in Afghanistan," then this can only be because al-Qaida in Iraq has been subjected to a battlefield defeat at our handsa military defeat accompanied by a political humiliation in which its fanatics have been angrily repudiated by the very people they falsely claimed to be fighting for. If we had left Iraq according to the timetable of the anti-war movement, the situation would be the precise reverse: The Iraqi people would now be excruciatingly tyrannized by the gloating sadists of al-Qaida, who could further boast of having inflicted a battlefield defeat on the United States. I dare say the word of that would have spread to Afghanistan fast enough and, indeed, to other places where the enemy operates. Bear this in mind next time you hear any easy talk about "the hunt for the real enemy" or any loose babble that suggests that we can only confront our foes in one place at a time.
#1
world's oldest and most intractable quarrels is settled
Hitchens is suggesting the problem is one of religion. Some Morrocans I worked with (1978) insisted the problem was not religion, but land - noting "Arabs and Jews had lived together for a thousand years." I see their point, tax and all.
So when the Jooos left Gaza, that wasn't a step in the right direction?
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/15/2008 6:49
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Hitchens being intelligent again. Good to see.
Posted by: Menhaden S ||
07/15/2008 8:07
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The problem in the Israeli theater is religion. It was land and power under Arafat but the religion became radicalized and Hamas the main antagonist now.
#4
Arabs and Jews have lived together for a long time - as long as the Jews were in a submissive condition, ghettoized low-caste perpetual victims to the Arabs, and the pre-designated targets whenever anyone needed to blow off steam.
Interestingly this underdog position was probably the most extreme in Morrocco, which had by far the largest Jewish population.
For a view of the Jewish condition in Morrocco under Arab rule, I recommend Douglas Porch - "The Conquest of Morrocco". This is not specifically about the Jewish condition, but well worth a read anyway.
#6
"But now deceased ABU MUSAB AL-ZARQAWI" > IMO thats should be ALLEGEDLY DEAD/DECEASED Zark, as that MSM photos of Zarkey are NOT the same personage + no death pic. I'M PERSONALLY NOT CONVINCED ZARKEY IS ACTUALLY DEAD DESPITE CONTIN MSM-NET REPORTS TO THE CONTRARY.
One of the most visible conflicts in public opinion prior to the Gaza Strip pullout in August 2005 dealt with the issue of public structures following the evacuation of Gush Katif and northern Samarian settlements. Many claimed that the buildings must be destroyed in order to insure that they will not be used by terrorist organizations in the future. The fate of many of the areas synagogues was also discussed at that time.
In July 2004 the government already reached the decision to pullout from Gaza and to demolish the public buildings there, without exceptions. Time and again, the government bombarded the High Court of Justice explaining why the judges must not be permitted to interfere in the decision to wreck the synagogues.
However, at some point, the tables were turned. Then-Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, Silvan Shalom, Binyamin Ben-Eliezer and Matan Vilnai suddenly opposed the decision. The ministers started raising creative ideas allowing the synagogues to remain intact. Limor Livnat suggested involving UNESCO with the hopes they would declare Gush Katif synagogues as official World Heritage Sites.
The final decision was received in September 2005, following the residents evacuation and a day before the IDFs definitive pullout from the Gaza Strip. Despite the objection, the government decided to leave public buildings, kindergartens, libraries, schools and other structures whole for the benefit of the Palestinian population. The synagogues were left untouched due to the problematic nature of demolishing holy places.
Recently, terrorist organizations and most notably, Hamas have begun using these buildings for training purposes. A few movie videos filmed and produced by various terror organizations presented gunmen training at the sites of public buildings once used in Gush Katif, including synagogues and schools. One of the structures identifiable in the short films in the Atzmona synagogue in which the terrorists train for different scenarios with live ammunition.
Aside from Hamas, the Islamic Jihad also trains in the Jewish holy site. The buildings serve as scenery for kidnapping scenarios and urban warfare including the invasion and purification of buildings. The organizations members also practice Krav Maga. The drills are conducted in and outside of the buildings and damage is visible to the structures. The gunmen practice various maneuvers using light weaponry and grenades, light and heavy machine guns and antitank missiles.
The mere existence of the buildings and their accessibility greatly contribute to the terrorist organizations. The structures are abandoned and isolated and far from the Palestinian civilian population. If not for these buildings, the terrorists would have to construct buildings and special training areas for these purposes, just like the IDF does in order to conduct counter-terrorism drills. They would have to evacuate an entire neighborhood from its Palestinians inhabitants in order to establish a similar area.
It should be noted that usage of the buildings Israel abandoned in the Gaza Strip for live ammunition training is not secure. Buildings designated for urban warfare training must be planned and built especially for that purpose. However, it is possible that the terror organizations have already made the proper modifications themselves.
#3
I always understood that synagogues are similar to community centers rather than holy places, that only the scrolls of the Torah and the souls of the congregants themselves are considered holy.
There is no doubt, several representatives of the late-night shows said, that so far their audiences (and at least some of the shows writers) seem to be favorably disposed toward Mr. Obama, to a degree that perhaps leaves them more resistant to jokes about him than those about most previous candidates.
A lot of people are excited about his candidacy, Mr. Sweeney said. Its almost like: Hey, dont go after this guy. Hes a fresh face; cut him some slack.
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/15/2008 6:31
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Problem is a lot of lefties think the cracks about Gore being stiff helped cost him the election. They won't make that mistake again.
#4
Jimmy Kimmel, the host of the ABC late-night talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live, said of Mr. Obama, Theres a weird reverse racism going on. You cant joke about him because hes half-white. Its silly. I think its more a problem because hes so polished, he doesnt seem to have any flaws.
he's our own local cyst of illegal facilitation. Panderfest!
Local immigrant-rights activist Enrique Morones said he was thrilled but shocked to receive a public thank-you from Sen. Barack Obama as the Democratic presidential candidate was launching into his speech Sunday at the National Council of La Raza convention.
Obama, at the podium, had just thanked two top NCLR officials before his speech when he thanked Morones of Border Angels, a group that stocks desert water stations and lobbies intensely for immigrant rights, often with a theatrical flair and a blunt style that has drawn the ire of anti-illegal immigration activists.
Morones said that prior to the speech he, several elected officials and others had attended a meeting with Obama and his campaign staff, and that he'd handed the candidate a t-shirt from his "Marcha Migrante III," the third in a series of cross-country trips he and other activists have made to lobby elected officials for immigrant-friendly law changes.
At first, he said, he thought the candidate must be thanking someone else.
"I'm sitting there when he says 'Enrique...' " he said afterward. "Of course, I'm very happy. I'm on cloud nine with this thing."
Aside from the high-profile shout out, Morones said, he was glad to hear Obama promise during his speech that he would make immigration reform a priority. The candidate promised, among other things, to allow a path to eventual citizenship for undocumented immigrants already living and working here, provided they pay a fine, learn English and wait their turn behind legal residents.
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/15/2008
00:49 ||
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Enrique and Barry, a couple of Morons.
Posted by: Menhaden S ||
07/15/2008 8:02
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So it's pander to Mexicans today, Barry? Did you make any promises? Low ride the presidential limo?
Furry dice? Spray paint murals on the White House?
#4
"a series of cross-country trips he and other activists have made to lobby elected officials for immigrant-friendly law changes."
-oh, you obviously mean more rights for those honest law abiding folks who got their citizenship after taking a test and saying the pledge? Silly me, I thought for a second you meant the ones that come scampering across our southern border uninvited. The former are called immigrants the latter would be called illegal-aliens or transnational squatters if you prefer.
(Xinhua) -- Four rebels of the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) were killed in an operation staged by Turkish security forces in southeastern Turkey, a Turkish military statement said on Monday.
The Turkish security forces encountered four PKK militants in a mountainous area near Beytussebap town of Sirnak Province later Sunday and called on them to surrender, Turkey's General Staff said in a statement posted in its website.
The PKK militants opened fired on the security forces, and four PKK members were killed during the clash, adding the death toll of PKK rebels killed in the region over the past four days to eight, said the statement.
The PKK rebels have battled more than two decades for autonomy in southeastern Turkey and they use strongholds in northern Iraq for cross-border raids. About 40,000 people have been killed in the over-two-decade conflict.
Posted by: Fred ||
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The Iranian and Syrian militaries have assisted Hizbullah in setting up advanced radar installations atop Mt. Sannine in Lebanon's Beka Valley which can be used to track Israeli planes from the Mediterranean Sea in the West to Damascus in the East, foreign news reports revealed on Monday.
According to a report in the Azerbaijan-based Trend News Agency, Iran and Syria recently completed installing radar stations on the mountain, which is in the center of Lebanon and reaches 2,600 meters above sea level.
Israeli defense analysts said that while Syria did not need radar installations inside Lebanon to track IAF fighter jets, the systems could be used by Hizbullah in the event that Damascus supplied them with advanced radar-based air defense systems. The IDF's working assumption is that Syria has provided Hizbullah with such systems, for example, the SA-18.
Defense officials could not confirm the report but said that they were aware of Hizbullah efforts to track Israeli aircraft in the event of another war.
The reports of Iranian assistance in setting up the radar installations came as Israel grows increasingly concerned about possible Iranian involvement in Hizbullah's decision-making process. Members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards are suspected of having direct involvement in training Hizbullah fighters.
Meanwhile on Monday, another foreign media outlet reported that the IAF exercise over Greece last month was conducted so Israeli fighter jets could study the Russian-made S-300 air-defense missile system, which is deployed on the island of Crete, and believed to be on the way to Iran.
The S-300 is one of the best multi-target anti-aircraft-missile systems in the world today and has a reported ability to track up to 100 targets simultaneously while engaging up to 12 at the same time. Iran is believed to have already procured several S-300 systems to protect its nuclear facilities although reports have differed as to whether the systems have already been supplied by Russia.
According to a report on The Cutting Edge News Web site, written by award-winning journalist Edwin Black, in December 2007 Greece installed the S-300 system in Crete following several years when it was stationed in Cyprus.
In the beginning of June, Israel reportedly flew 100 F-15 and F-16 fighter jets 1,400 kilometers into Greek airspace in what has been described as a "dress rehearsal" for an airstrike against Iranian nuclear installations.
According to The Cutting Edge, by flying within range of the Greek S-300, Israel was able to record invaluable information which could assist the IAF in developing means of jamming and defeating the advanced air-defense system.
Black wrote that Iran had filed a bitter protest in Athens following the Israeli exercise, but was told by Greek officials that the S-300 had been "turned off" during the exercise.
While Israeli defense sources said that it was not yet certain that S-300 systems had been delivered to Iran, The Cutting Edge cited Russian sources which speculated that as many as five batteries had recently arrived in Iran at the price of $800 million.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/15/2008
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#1
"as Israel grows increasingly concerned about possible Iranian involvement in Hizbullah's decision-making process."
Once you realize that 50% of the world's population is below the median intelligence level, everything begins to fall into place.
#2
ION TOPIX > US CLAIMS IRAN HAS MISSLE THAT CAN HIT EUROPE [Southern-Eastern Euro]; + IRANIAN AIR FORCE TO STAGE LARGE-SCALE WAR GAMES; + MEDVEDEV: RUSSIA WILL DEFEND ITS INTERESTS ABROAD. Will "Robustly" defend + Russ ia also dissatisfied wid the post-Cold War World "Strategic Contruct"???
Taliban militants have taken serious note of anti-Baitullah Mehsud pamphlets distributed near North Waziristan on Sunday, local residents said on Monday. Unidentified people distributed the pamphlets stating differences among the Taliban leaders, in the Frontier Region Bannu's Bakakhel area on Sunday. The leaflets were attributed to Maulvi Nazir and Gul Bahadar, Taliban leaders in South and North Waziristan respectively. The two militant leaders have formed a new militant bloc to defend interests of the Wazir tribes. "We deny [this] ... we are not involved in this distribution," said a statement from the office of Taliban commander Gul Bahadar. It said anyone who issued the pamphlets was "hypocrite" and would be taken to task once identified. Baitullah Mehsud issued a similar rejoinder last month, saying that he had no enmity with Gul Bahadar.
This article starring:
Bannu's Bakakhel area
North Waziristan
South Waziristan
BAITULLAH MEHSUD
Taliban
GUL BAHADAR
Taliban
MAULVI NAZIR
Taliban
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
It said anyone who issued the pamphlets was "hypocrite" and would be taken to task once identified.
I'd be looking for more of those "beheaded for spying" stories in the coming days. It appears piehead's feelings are hurt and someone will have to pay.
Afghanistan said on Monday it would boycott a series of upcoming meetings with Pakistan unless "bilateral trust" was restored after attacks it blamed on its neighbour's intelligence and military.
The cabinet decision was announced soon after President Hamid Karzai issued statement against a Pakistani intelligence agency last week.
"The people of Afghanistan, the world, know very well that Pakistan's intelligence agency and military have turned that country to the biggest exporter of terrorism and extremism to the world, particularly Afghanistan," the cabinet said in a statement.
A cabinet meeting had decided Afghanistan was "compelled" to suspend its involvement in various bilateral and regional meetings due in Dubai, Islamabad and Kabul this month and in August, the statement said.
Move: The reason was the "violence-seeking policies of Pakistan's intelligence and military officials." The suspension would hold unless "an atmosphere of bilateral trust is established," it said. "Every day all over our country, children, women, elders, teachers and Afghanistan's international partners ... get killed at the hands of elements of [a Pakistani intelligence agency]," statement said.
It said Pakistani intelligence was responsible for "terrorist attacks" that included a suicide bombing against the Indian embassy in Kabul last week that killed 60 people and a failed April assassination attempt on Karzai.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/15/2008
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MARDAN: Rockets were fired on Monday morning at the house of Azam Khan, the former PML-Q provincial candidate and former Public Safety Commission chairman. According to sources, the house's upper storey was partially damaged when unidentified militants fired two rockets at the house located in Khan Qila on Swabi Road. No injuries have been reported so far. Sources said police and emergency officials had cordoned off the area and had begun investigations.
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LONDON - Britain will send 120 more troops to Iraq to help train the Iraqi army, a Ministry of Defence spokesman said Tuesday.
The spokesman could not immediately specify a timeframe for their arrival in the Middle Eastern country, where around 4,000 British soldiers are already based. These personnel bring specialist skills to the Military Transition Teams already working with the Iraqi Army in Basra and are vital to further developing the Iraqi Army's leadership ability, he said. British forces are doing an excellent job to train and develop them further so ultimately they can take full responsibility for their own security. Troop levels are kept under review, and decisions are made based on the advice of commanders and conditions on the ground.
He dismissed as pure speculation a report in The Sun tabloid Tuesday morning describing planned troop withdrawals from Iraq as highly unlikely for at least a year. Most of Britain's troops in Iraq are stationed outside the southern city of Basra, and the government has previously announced that their numbers would be cut to 2,500 this year, depending on conditions on the ground.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/15/2008
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I don't know that they really need that kind of training. Aren't the Ukrainians or Poles available?
Although, this is a major deployment for the Brits, credit were due.
The ENOUGH Project is applauding the charges filed Monday by the International Criminal Court prosecutor against Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir. The organization, part of the Center for American Progress, has been calling for tough international action to end the violence in Sudan's Darfur region.
Executive Director John Norris says the charges are a cause for celebration. "I think the chief prosecutor is to be congratulated for recognizing what has been long obvious. That what is taking place in Darfur, the crimes that have been committed there, the crimes against humanity can be traced in a very bright line directly back to Khartoum and directly back to President Bashir. I think in a lot of ways the prosecutor has done something quite basic. He's recognized the elephant in the room and let the world know what was clear to Sudanese, to people on the ground in Darfur, to the humanitarian community, to reporters, to activists and everyone else that President Bashir really is the person most directly culpable for the tragedy that has been Sudan in recent years," he says.
Norris also addresses those who say an indictment against the Sudanese leader will only make matters worse and possibly destabilize the country. He says, "I think it's really quite incredible that we've got people worried that the indictments might upset President Bashir's rather delicate sensibilities. I think if you look at the picture on the ground, the situation speaks for itself. We have over 300,000 dead. We have millions displaced. There's no credible peace process in sight."
ENOUGH co-founder John Prendergast expects resistance from the Sudanese government. "There is an major opportunity here to introduce a point of leverage that didn't exist before. Yes, it's going to be very messy and ugly over the next month or two while Bashir tries to use the ICC action to justify a number of things...I'm sure we'll see it all. You know, restricting humanitarian assistance, undermining the deployment of these peacekeeping forces further. Maybe even suspending the peacekeeping force in both the south and in Darfur."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/15/2008
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#1
The genocide has already happened, 300,000 people bit the dust while the UN and ICC contemplated the technical definition of genocide. Now we will dick around for another 3 years, debating whether or not to go in and get Bashir. I really don't see any reason to be celebrating.
#2
"is to be congratulated for recognizing what has been long obvious"
No, you see, recognition of the obvious is now a reason to congratulate someone! It used to be that we only congratulated people for having some keen insight and seeing what WASNT obvious. Things are much different now.
THE Rudd cabinet is considering Australia's continued involvement in US President George W. Bush's Global Nuclear Energy Partnership, despite Labor claims before the election that membership could force Canberra to establish uranium enrichment plants and accept the world's nuclear waste.
Despite the change from Howard to Rudd, the Aussies remain serious and sober about their global responsibilities.
A cabinet paper being prepared for Resources Minister Martin Ferguson and Industry Minister Kim Carr is understood to canvass conditions for continued involvement in the GNEP -- an international collaboration of nuclear fuel suppliers and users -- and Australia's possible future involvement in the international forum on the development of the next generation of nuclear reactors.
The Government will face a backlash from the conservation movement if it proceeds with plans to stay in the nuclear partnership or continues the Howard government moves to join the Generation IV International Forum. Labor environment spokesman Peter Garrett said last September: "Membership of the GNEP could force Australia to establish uranium enrichment plants and accept the world's nuclear waste."
Joining the partnership was "another clear sign" of John Howard's "personal crusade for a nuclear-powered Australia", Mr Garrett said at the time.
In a recent letter to conservation groups, Mr Ferguson -- a key figure behind Labor ditching its controversial three uranium mines policy -- insisted the Government remained opposed to nuclear power or the development of further stages of the nuclear fuel cycle in Australia. "The construction of uranium conversion or enrichment facilities, as well as fuel fabrication or spent fuel reprocessing plants in Australia is therefore prohibited," he wrote.
And the Government would prohibit importation of spent nuclear fuel or radioactive waste from "other countries". As the holder of the world's largest uranium reserves, Australia had an important role in the "safe and proliferation resistant" use of nuclear energy, Mr Ferguson said.
But conservationists reject these arguments on the same grounds Labor rejected them when they were put by the Howard government. "If Labor is now considering participation in these international nuclear forums, it can only mean that both a nuclear enrichment industry and a longer-term nuclear waste dump are still on the table for Australia," said Alec Marr of The Wilderness Society.
The Howard government signed Australia up to the GNEP in September last year. The Rudd Government has continued to send officials to its meetings, most recently in Jordan in May. The group aims to restrict the number of countries enriching uranium to the existing powers -- the US, Britain, China, Russia and France -- with nuclear fuel shipped to other countries and the waste repatriated to the suppliers so it cannot be reprocessed for use in nuclear weapons.
But conservationists say GNEP is largely about solving the US problem of what to do with its growing nuclear waste stockpile, and that Australian involvement will lead to an international nuclear waste dump here. The Government will announce the site for a domestic dump in August.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/15/2008
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TEHERAN, Iran - Iran's hardline president said Monday he would welcome direct talks with the US if both parties are on equal footing, adding such talks could happen in the near future.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad did not say whether any definite plans for such bilateral talks were under way. We will hold talks with the United States if they come to us on equal footing, Ahmadinejad said in a live speech on state TV.
I think he wants us to grovel ...
Ahmadinejad also said he will attend the next UN General Assembly in New York in September in order to defend Iran's rights and propose changes to what he called the unjust Western system of administering international organizations. Ahmadinejad has attended every annual UN General Assembly meeting since he was elected in 2005.
Equal footing means that when two people want to talk, both have to be on equal terms. Dialogue doesn't make any sense if one side stands in a higher position and the other in a lower position, Ahmadinejad said.
And who would know more about standing in a lower position than Short Round ...
For years, Iran has vehemently opposed any direct talks with Washington, though it went to the limited, trilateral discussions with the US and Iraq recently.
The father of Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, likened any relationship between Washington and Teheran as that of a wolf and sheep. But Iran's current top leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei - who repeatedly rejected such talks in the past - has softened his tone in recent months. In January, Khamenei said Iran's relationship with the United States might not be severed forever. He said he would be the first to support resuming diplomatic ties with Washington, but that doing so now would be harmful to Iran's interests.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/15/2008
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#1
As a Net website OP-Ed indicated, THE IRANIANS THINK THEY HAVE THE ADVANTAGE = HOLD THE CARDS vv THE USA RIGHT NOW, AND THEY ARE CORRECT.
Again, 2008-2012 Post-Dubya POTUS Period = THE MOST DECISIVE AND DANGEROUS TIME IN THE WOT, for both strong-but-not-yet-dominant US OWG-NWO, as well for losing-but not-yet-defeated NUCLEARIZING RADICAL ISLAM. DITTO FOR THE WORLD.
ONE of "the most contaminated places on Earth" will only get dirtier if the US government doesn't get its act together - clean-up plans are already 19 years behind schedule and not due for completion until 2050.
More than 210 million litres of radioactive and chemical waste are stored in 177 underground tanks at Hanford in Washington State. Most are over 50 years old. Already 67 of the tanks have failed, leaking almost 4 million litres of waste into the ground.
There are now "serious questions about the tanks' long-term viability," says a Government Accountability Office report, which strongly criticises the US Department of Energy for delaying an $8 billion programme to empty the tanks and treat the waste. The DoE says the clean-up is "technically challenging" and argues that it is making progress in such a way as to protect human health and the environment.
The DoE's plan, however, is "faith-based", says Robert Alvarez, an authority on Hanford at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington DC. "The risk of catastrophic tank failure will sharply increase as each year goes by," he says, "and one of the nation's largest rivers, the Columbia, will be in jeopardy."
#1
I'm afraid I'll have to throw the BS flag on this one. Quite a lot is being done at Richland (The Atomic City) by some very talented government and private sector scientists and technicians. It's a lovely town, very safe... where you can still leave the front door unlocked and send your daughter to school on her bicycle. The work at Hanford during WWII was entirely necessary and ultimately helped end the war in the Pacific.
#2
whenever I read an analyst at Institute for Policy Studies in Washington DC, I know it's a left-funded DNC shadow org, whose position papers aren't worth using as TP.
Yep, their website touts them as: "turns Ideas into Action for Peace, Justice and the Environment."
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/15/2008 22:19
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(Xinhua) -- U.S. President George W. Bush will meet Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore at the White House on July 16 for talks on American aid and West African affairs, the White House said Monday.
I hope he asks him what happened to Upper Volta. I suspect foul play.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/15/2008
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"Please do not issue any more diplomatic passports to Viktor Bout. Thank you."
(Xinhua) -- The U.S. terrorist watch list now has 1 million names on it, partly due to the loose criteria for adding names to the list, a rights group said Monday. "America's new million record watch list is a perfect symbol for what's wrong with this administration's approach to security," Barry Steinhardt, a spokesman for American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), said in a statement. "It's unfair, out-of-control, a waste of resources, treats the rights of the innocent as an afterthought, and is a very real impediment in the lives of million of travelers in this country," he added.
The Inspector General of the Justice Department reported last year that the Terrorist Screening Center had over 700,000 names as of April 2007 and that the list was growing by an average of 20,000 names per month. The watch list has become long and "bloated" naming several individuals who are probably not terrorists, Steinhardt said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/15/2008
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#1
Do we have a "Our One Millionth Customer" pic?
And is Barry Steinhardt on there somewhere? Just in case, you know...
Posted by: Grenter, Protector of the Geats ||
07/15/2008 9:26
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#2
On a more sober note. Given that it's the ACLU, you can usually count on it to be as accurate as the AP, Al Reuters, Lancet, et al.
#5
If I don't use my middle initial, I get pulled out of line. It happened in Providence 2 years ago. The TSA guy said from now on use the middle initial and I should have no problems. And I'm not gonna win any Bin Laden lookalike contests...
BAGHDAD - Iraq's main southern city of Basra remains under threat from militias despite a March offensive against them that killed hundreds of people, the top British commander in Iraq said on Monday. "There is still danger from extremists in Basra," Major General Barney White-Spunner told reporters at a US military base near Baghdad airport. The British general said the militias' grip on Iraq's second city was "finished" but did not rule out the possibility of them returning. "There are still violent extremists intent on coming back... there is some danger from them. But we are putting in place a structure, so when they do try to come back they will get arrested," the general told reporters.
He said the British military and Iraqi forces were setting up a "counter-terrorist structure" in a bid to thwart any future attempt by militiamen to gain ground in the region. White-Spunner said the March military assault had established security in the city and surrounding region following the killing and detention of hundreds of militiamen. Iraqi forces have "reclaimed Basra. Normalcy is returning... People feel this security is here to stay. Iraqi forces are very popular. There is confidence in the Iraqi forces," he said.
The British military handed over security responsibility for Basra to Iraqi forces in December but within three months the situation in the oil-rich province deteriorated and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ordered an assault to retake control of the region. White-Spunner insisted nonetheless that the decision to transfer security responsibility in Basra to Iraqi forces was the right one. "It was the right decision. We always knew it (Basra) had to have an Iraqi solution. The approach was to have Iraqis in the lead," he said.
This article starring:
Basra
Major General Barney White-Spunner
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/15/2008
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#1
"Still violent extremists intent on coming back" > Agreement to Point.
2008-2012 POTUS Period > NO US-IRAN WAR + PAN-ISLAMIST NUCLEARIZATION-STRATWEAPONZN = Islamist Priority during this phase is MORE DIPLOMACY + PUBLIC RELATIONS, ETC. THAN VIOLENCE. IRAN + even MANY MAJOR MILITANT-TERR GROUPS would prefer to keep a LOW-PROFILE AMAP ALAP, even though Local-Regional Mil-TerrOPs will likely contin to take place. ISLAMIST PROB DURING NUCLEARIZATION >
"INDEPENDENT" MIL-TERR ACTION(S) WHICH INDUCES/RESULTS IN A RETALIAT MAJOR ATTACK AGZ IRAN + NUCDEVFACS [includ Paki] BY THE US ANDOR ISRAEL.
Recall similarities as per POST-1972 XMAS BOMBING, US-NVN TREATY, + WATERGATE-FOCUSED NIXON ADMIN > NVN kept a low, Diplo-Correct international profile, whilst "IN-PLACE" NVA-VC Units [by Treaty] already inside South Vietnam conducted random limited attacks while also building up for future new offensives [1975 Fall of Saigon].
RADICAL ISLAM ISN'T DONE WID IRAQ JUST YET. HOPEFULLY THE IGA WILL USE THIS LULL WISELY TO PREPARE FOR FUTURE NEW ISLAMIST RESPONSES WHICH THEY KNOW WILL COME.
#2
REMINDER > Despite its HYPERPOWER GLOBAL POTENCY, US-led/specific CONTROL-DOMIN of desired future OWG-NWO is NOT YET ASSURED, while PRESENTLY LOSING, SIMIL OWG-MINDED, RADICAL ISLAM IS NOT YET ABSOL OR THOROUGHLY DEFEATED, EVEN WITHIN IRAQ.
DESPITE RHETORIC TO THE CONTRARY, IMB NO SIDE OR CAMP, ANY AND ALL, DESIRES "STALEMATE" + COLD WAR-STYLE "MUTUAL COEXISTENCE".
Two Algerians released from the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay have not been heard from since they were transferred two weeks ago to the custody of the North African country, a human rights group said Monday.
Human Rights Watch said several Algerian detainees at Guantanamo have expressed fear of torture and called on the US to help ensure the two men - the first Algerians transferred to their home country from Guantanamo - are treated humanely. "What happens to these men is significant in figuring out what to do with the others,"
The Pentagon announced July 2 that Abdul Raham Houari and Mustafa Ahmed Hamlily had been transferred to Algeria, but the rights group says that country apparently has not confirmed the men's whereabouts. Their families and attorneys have not heard from them, the group said.
Algeria's security forces have been accused of torturing terrorism suspects, the US State Department has noted in reports on human rights practices, citing international and local rights groups.
Attorney Zachary Katznelson, of the British human rights group Reprieve, said he represents four Algerians at Guantanamo who have been cleared for release but worry they will risk mistreatment if returned home.
This article starring:
Guantanamo
ABDUL RAHAM HUARI
al-Qaeda
Attorney Zachary Katznelson
Human Rights Watch
Jennifer Daskal, senior counterterrorism counsel
MUSTAFA AHMED HAMLILY
al-Qaeda
Posted by: Fred ||
07/15/2008
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#1
food, water, a roof, a prayer rug, and shit free koran. but that's not good enough @ gitmo. set them free is the cry.
so uncle sam does.
they disappear.
now uncle sam needs to ensure they are treated humanely.
#2
Two Algerians released from the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay have not been heard from since they were "transferred" two weeks ago to the custody of the North African country, a human rights group said Monday.
The Algerian Consul gave them "green" swim fins and goggles?
They musta taken the wrong turn..
hell it's easy to miss the turn at Martinique... oh well.. make'um good fair fish food..
Posted by: Red Dawg ||
07/15/2008 1:03
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#3
It's possible that the US Gubmint turned them and they can't go back now...
Posted by: Red Dawg ||
07/15/2008 1:05
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Attorney Zachary Katznelson, of the British human rights group Reprieve, said he represents four Algerians at Guantanamo who have been cleared for release but worry they will risk mistreatment if returned home.
Not our problem shithead.
Here's an idea. Why don't you go home with them to make sure everything goes okay.
#5
What ethical duty do we supposedly have to ensure that illegal combatants that we release to their home countries are treated in accordance with U.S. laws?
This boggles my mind. They wanted to be released, they got released. Where did they think they were going, Disneyland?
Screw those guys anyway, they should have been executed on the spot according to their precious Geneva Convention.
#6
"What happens to these men is significant in figuring out what to do with the others," said Jennifer Daskal, senior counterterrorism counsel for the New York-based group,
I agree, if this is what happens to releasees in Algeria, I say all releasees should be first sent to Algeria, regardless of nationality. After that, I don't care if they are ever seen alive again
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/15/2008 10:28
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#7
So suddenly, we get criticized for not keeping them in Gitmo?
What are we supposed to do, put them up in public housing and put them on welfare, like thre UK does?
Canada's federal court has rejected a US Army deserter's application for a stay of his deportation order.
Federal Court of Canada Justice Anne Mactavish says in her decision Monday that Robin Long did not provide clear and convincing evidence that he will suffer irreparable harm if he is returned to the United States.
Long, 25, fled to Canada in 2005 to avoid serving in Iraq. He was arrested in Nelson, British Columbia, last October on a Canada-wide warrant.
Long, who could be deported as early as Tuesday, is one of about 200 American deserters believed to have come to Canada to avoid service in Iraq. So far, Canadian immigration officials and the courts have rejected efforts to grant them refugee status.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/15/2008
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#1
Is he sure he hasn't already been discharged like that pinhead from last week?
#3
Not sure that is the reason, Shusorong White1099. I suspect common sense. Canadian Armed Forces aren't large in numbers and there's no need to set a precedent for deserters.
#7
It ain't 1968. You aren't a draftee, dildo. You volunteered. With Canada having guys bleeding and dying in this thing they're probably real thrilled they have to deal with your whining chickenshit ass.
#8
#6 I say refuse him entry. Tell the Canuks that he's their problem now, we don't want him.
Posted by: mojo
Naaah, let him come back, face a court martial, and get sentenced to five years cleaning latrines at Leavenworth. It's a lousy job, but somebody's got to do it. Might as well be this POS.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/15/2008 11:11
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#9
No, don't court martial him -- he'll end up a darling of the Left, and we don't need that right now.
He gets a dishonorable discharge, and then he's ignored for the rest of his pathetic life. And every time he goes for a job interview, applies for a loan, etc., he can explain what happened.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/15/2008 14:46
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#10
"No, don't court martial him...He gets a dishonorable discharge,"
He'll prolly git 6/6 and a Baked Chicken Dinner, not a DD. In any case, sentence would be handed out at Court Martial. Otherwise, he could only get a General, Admin type discharge, right?
Posted by: Bin thinking again ||
07/15/2008 15:30
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#11
Essentially. He can get a general, with an 'other than honorable' condition. It's an administrative discharge and there's still a hearing process, but it's not a judicial process.
Dubai's Criminal Investigation Department says police have detained 79 people, mostly foreigners, over the past two weeks for indecent behaviour on several public beaches. Zuhair Haroun, a police spokesman, says they were picked up by police for "disturbing families enjoying the beach" with their behaviour. Haroun did not elaborate on the nature of the acts in question. Thousands of European and Asian expatriates live and work in Dubai, one of seven semi-independent states that form the United Arab Emirates, a conservative Muslim country. Foreigners hugely outnumber native Arab citizens in Dubai, the region's business hub and an increasingly popular destination for Western tourists.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/15/2008
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Compare wid REDDIT > NINE WOMEN ARRESTED AFTER ORAL SEX BEACH COMPETITION.
From Ezra Levan's testimomy before the US Congress:
The legal onslaught against freedom of speech and religious pluralism continues. There are 14 human rights commission in Canada, employing 1,000 people, and with an annual budget of $200-million. It's an industry, and it needs social strife to stay in business. So it positively drums up discontent. This spring in Alberta, 60,000 new immigrants were taught English as a Second Language using a workbook all about how to file grievances, including against un-funny jokes.
I'm pleased that a political backlash is growing in Canada. Across the political spectrum, from both the Liberal and Conservative parties, from newspaper editorials on the left and the right, and from NGOs ranging from EGALE, Canada's largest gay right lobby, to the Canadian Association of Journalists, to the liberal Muslim Canadian Congress, public opinion is waking up to the dangers of these human rights commissions and their thought crime laws. The public is starting to revolt.
Continued on Page 49
#3
I would've said Shania Twain deserved high crimes and misdemeanors charges for trying to go from country to mainstream crap pop...I'll let her off w/a fine since her old man was recently caught banging a girlfriend of hers.
From the comments thread of a post at Watts Up With That on unmelted Arctic Ice, by a commenter who identifies himself as "JP":
This enitre "waiting for Godot" mentality has become quite boring. It is now big entertainment for those in the AGW camp to write stories, publish studies and generally fill the airways with tripe concerning the melting ice cap(s). The same thing occured in 2005-2006 concerning tropical cyclones, and when Mother Nature refused to cooperate, that faucet was shut-off quickly and a new faucet was turned on -namely the melting artic ice cap (or whatever they call it these days). So now from May through September the world must stop all activity as the Alarmists wait and hope against hope that for just a few hours the Northwest Passage might open up. One can just imagine the headlines on Drudge. In the meantime, scientists at the cryosphere and other insititutions will adjust the ice coverage and worry over the thinness of the ice, and perhaps a few oceanographers could say the Gulfstream is weakening and the sea levels are rising 100,000 times faster than the IPCC forecasted.
Most people forget this was all brought about when surface temp anomalies didn't do what they're suppose to do (flattened or went negative), and the next El Nino event is still at least a year out. How can an Alarmist alarm people with flat graphs, mild summers, and cold winters? For not even Hansen has the nerve to blame the California fires and drought on AGW (however, I wouldn't put it past him saying that AGW causes more extreme La Ninas).
If the next El Nino fails to materialize by next summer, look for some other phenomena (maybe coral bleaching) that will be used to hammer the masses. The folks at Hadely, NASA, and the UN are a very persistent bunch and barring any rapid drop in global temperatures can keep the narrative going until something like El Nino gives them a boost. He has _no idea_.
Investigative reporter Linda Moulton Howe presented reports on the Barbury Castle pattern, ocean acidity, an abductee's account of non-human technologies, and the U.K's recent UFO flap... ...Increased acidity in Pacific Coast waters is occurring much faster than global warming climate models predicted— and is posing a threat to marine life. She interviewed Christopher Lee Sabine with the NOAA, who expressed surprise at the levels of acidity, which he associated with increased CO2 in the atmosphere. More here. I think I've explained before that the woo-woo fringe is where the Big Tranzi Aristocracy "tries out" various issues before taking them to big audiences. Look for this to be spammed in the mainstream media in about another three to four weeks.
#1
Looks pretty icy to me. Just like it should be.
The imagery doesn't give us any information about thickness, but you'd think the edges would be melting at least if it were getting thin.
#2
If you haven't gone to see the picture at the link, do so. It's a satellite picture of northern Canada and Arctic Ocean dated 7/12/08. Cool! Just not quite what the chicken little alarmst say it should look like.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
07/15/2008 9:44
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#3
Northern Hemispheric ice coverage about 600k km**2 ahead of last year while SH is running about 1m km**2 ahead.
We are about 6 years into the negative phase of the PDO. The water in the North Pacific is about 2C cooler than the 30 year mean.
And depending on who you want to believe, we are headed toward a Maunder Minimum in the sunspot cycle...which some believe contributed to the Little Ice Age. I agree with NASA (for once) that the jury is still out on that.
The point is that the negative phase of the PDO is the 1st order effect on sea ice and the little warming we have measured with the rest likely attributable to variations in the solar constant.
In early June, about 300 fighters of various jihadi groups gathered in Rawalpindi for a secret gathering and agreed to resolve their differences and commit more fighters to Afghanistan. "The message was that the jihad in Kashmir is still continuing but it is not the most important right now. Afghanistan is the fighting ground, against the Americans there," said Toor Gul, a leader of the militant group Hezbul Mujahideen. He said the groups in attendance had included the Al Qaeda-linked Jaish-e-Muhammad and the Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, Pakistani military and European intelligence officials confirmed the meeting, with a senior military official describing it as "an intelligence failure".
Meanwhile, NATO spokesman Mark Laity expressed concern that the Pakistan government's peace deals with militants were leading to "increased cross border activity". However, Gul said that Mohmand and Bajaur agencies, in the country's northwest, were emerging as the strongest insurgent centres. Pakistani and Western officials corroborated his information.
A former minister in the previous government, requesting anonymity, confirmed this, saying that insurgents were being paid between Rs 6,000 and 8,000 a month in Mohmand. He claimed that the Pakistani military and intelligence services were aware of this.
Understanding:
He said that under a tacit understanding with authorities, militants were free to cross to fight in Afghanistan so long as they did not stage attacks inside Pakistan.
Maulvi Abdul Rahman, a Taliban militant, said jihadi sympathisers in the Middle East were sending money to support the insurgents and more Central Asians were coming to fight. He said that under a tacit understanding with authorities, militants were free to cross to fight in Afghanistan so long as they did not stage attacks inside Pakistan.
Denial: However, Pakistan's army vehemently denies giving covert aid to militants. "If anyone says the army is providing sanctuary, nothing could be further from the truth," army spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said. He criticised the US and NATO forces for failing to capture insurgents when they cross into Afghanistan or stop them from coming into Pakistan. "Is it the responsibility of only one side to stop the border crossings?" he asked. Another senior government official said Pakistan has become the scapegoat for US and NATO failures in Afghanistan. He also denied that the army was helping militants.
This article starring:
Hezbul Mujahideen
Jaish-e-Muhammad
Lashkar-e-Taiba
Major General Athar Abbas
Maulvi Abdul Rahman
Taliban
NATO spokesman Mark Laity
Toor Gul
Hezbul Mujahideen
Posted by: Fred ||
07/15/2008
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#1
Wouldn't it be nice if our troops could pursue any who attack us into any refuge that they may take? We could declare war on the terrorists, even to the extent that we would not respect international boundaries in our relentless pursuit of them. The boundary between Afghanistan and Pakistan would no longer be an obstacle in our fight for human freedoms. The boundary between Iraq and Iran would at most be a passing sight as our troops go after Shiite terrorists. One can dream.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
07/15/2008 11:13
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(Xinhua) -- The mighty army of Pakistan bombed suspected positions of local Taliban in the country's northwest a few days after the Taliban killed 17 soldiers, the News Network International (NNI) news agency reported Monday.
There was no report of any casualty in the first shelling by army of the hideout of the Taliban at Hangu area in the NWFP.
The forces started bombing Taliban's hideouts at Zargiri town in North West Frontier Province (NWFP) Sunday night and the operation continued till Monday morning, said the report. There was no report of any casualty in the first shelling by army of the hideout of the Taliban at Hangu area in the NWFP. "Butch? Was that artillery I heard?"
"Yeah. Ignore it. Shuddup and deal!"
Local Taliban attacked a convoy of security forces at Zargiri and killed 17 paramilitary soldiers last Saturday. They were heading to a fort along with tribal elders when the Taliban surrounded them. The killing of 17 soldiers by the Taliban has shocked the whole region and 200 armed villagers have announced to launch an operation against the Taliban, according to the NNI.
This article starring:
Hangu
North West Frontier Province
Zargiri
Posted by: Fred ||
07/15/2008
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#1
Give them thier independence, please. Then let us bomb them, then you can have them back, Pak.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Swat has established a Mohtasib Shura Committee in Manglor for the "provision of easy justice to locals", sources told Daily Times on Monday. Sources said the committee consists of nine people and decided cases and disputes in accordance with Shariah law. They said the Taliban's Shura had decided dozens of cases, adding that numerous people were submitting their cases with the Shura as neither security forces nor the police were present in the area to resolve their disputes.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/15/2008
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Top|| File under: Taliban
An Italian court has found 15 officials guilty of mistreating protesters following violent demonstrations at G8 meeting in the city of Genoa in 2001. A judge handed down prison sentences ranging from five months to five years to the accused - who include police, prison officials and two doctors. Another 30 defendants were cleared of charges, including assault. All of those convicted are expected to appeal against the guilty verdicts. The trial has lasted nearly three years.
The BBC's David Willey in Rome says it is unlikely that any of those sentenced will actually serve time in prison because their offences will have expired under Italy's statute of limitations before the appeal process is completed. However, the Italian government will be forced to pay out millions of pounds to those who were victims of police brutality during their detention.
The 2001 meeting of the G8 in the northern Italian city of Genoa was one of the most violent in the group's history. Street-battles between demonstrators and police left one protester dead and hundreds of others injured.
Protesters said they were beaten after being strip-searched by police. The prosecution said they were tortured. Police were accused of organised brutality at a high school where protesters were camping during the summit, and at a police barracks where demonstrators were taken after being arrested. Among them were protesters from Italy, Britain, Poland and Ireland.
One of the prosecutors in the case, Patrizia Petruziello, said that 40 protesters who were arrested suffered "four out of five" of the European Court's criteria for "inhuman and degrading treatment".
So the little anarchists were whacked good and hard after trying to bust up a G8 meeting, and the Italian courts defend them. Pathetic.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/15/2008
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Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is calling for U.S. combat troops to be withdrawn from Iraq by mid-2010. In an opinion article in The New York Times Monday, Obama says he will not hold the U.S. military or its resources "hostage" to what he called a misguided desire to maintain permanent bases in Iraq. Obama says a residual force would remain in Iraq to perform limited service missions such as fighting remnants of al-Qaida and protecting U.S. military personnel.
Obama says he believes the war in Iraq was a mistake and should be brought to an end. Obama has faced criticism in recent weeks over charges that if elected, he may delay the withdrawal of troops from Iraq.
The article Monday comes as Israeli and Palestinian officials announced that the Illinois senator will visit Israel and the West Bank next week.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/15/2008
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Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency
#1
Reportedly also desires as per TOPIX to send 10,000 US troops to Afghanistan.
ION REDDIT > seems MISS USA fell down while on-stage.
#3
With luck, LG5566, he'll enrage his base and not convince anyone else of his sincerity.
Well, the main stream media would have to disappear, of course...
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/15/2008 6:05
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#4
Let's see...
*The minute after he's inaugurated he'll order them home
*Within 30 days he'll order them home
*He'll order them home after a 'review'
*Now no permanent bases (like we have no airbases in the UK, all US aircraft are stationed at RAF bases) but troops will remain.
MAN, this guy is not ready or prime time.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
07/15/2008 6:45
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#5
The thing is, is is geopolitically speaking, an idiot.
One brigade sized base in Kurdish area, and a brigae and USAF base at Balad woudl provide ENORMOUS leverage throughout the region, and are out of the way enough as to not cause an issue with the Iraqi people. And as a bonus for hte Iraqis, those serve as our bases in the cold war did: a deterrent against agression - from Iran in this case. These two bases would also provide training cadre for Iraqi forces as well.
But they are especially important in providing Iraq with air defense, especially since Iraq lacks an air force that is adequate to defending it against Iranian attacks, and will be lacking that for 5-7 years it takes to put the infrastructure, aircraft, command contol, and pilots all together.
#6
Obama says a residual force would remain in Iraq to perform limited service missions such as fighting remnants of al-Qaida and protecting U.S. military personnel.
How they gonna do that without a base?
What a weasel.
#7
a residual force of unspecified size. Could be 100, could be 40,000.
Will fight AQ 'remnants' and will train Iraqi troops IF there is political accomodation. Obama admin will, of course, decide what is political accommodation. And will, presumably, decide what is "training" If a battalion of Iraqi troops finds itself in a cross fire with 'special groups" in Basra, and asks for a battalion of "trainers" to rejoin them for "refresher training" what then?
And what about air support?
As for bases, of course they will keep their current temporary bases. We will NOT say that those are permanent bases like Korea, we will not build facilities for dependents, etc. Yes, that means losing strat benefits, which OS points out - but the politics in Iraq make that virtually impossible. This isnt South Korea.
Im not an expert on air defense, but my impression is the Iranian air force also has its problems, and with US AF assets in Turkey, Kuwait and KSA, and USN carriers in the Gulf, Irans air position wont be dominant. It would of course be worthwhile to have Iraq possess its own bases of a size and quality that US AF assets could be deployed there quickly and easily, as we did in KSA in 1990.
#10
Iranian AF has problems, but they still have operations fighters and bombers.
Iraq has some Cessnas. And that's it.
Out AF need to be there for quite a while - its a complex task to build an effective modern airforce, and will likely take beyond 2012 to achive any fully independent operational air superiority and tac-air capability.
Thats why we will likely be in Balad for 10 years or so.
And the Kurdish north already wants to give us basing rights to deter the Turks and the Iranians, and the shia-sunni in the south.
#11
Obama says a residual force would remain in Iraq to perform limited service missions such as fighting remnants of al-Qaida and protecting U.S. military personnel.
#13
MILITRYA.com > STRATEGIST[S] MULLS EXPANDING US GROUND FORCES. "Regime Change" [US very good at] versus "National Stabilization-Engineering" roles [not so good]. STephen Metx argues that only reason for POTUS MCCAIN or OBAMA to suppor expansion of US ARMY-USMC Ground Forces is iff US intends to occupy and administer foreign nations for a protrcative periof of time.
Hoe zegt u dat in Belg?
Belgian media say Prime Minister Yves Leterme has offered his resignation after his government failed to agree on more self-rule for Belgium's Dutch and French-speaking camps. "Merde!"
"Ratten!"
The VRT television network says Leterme gave his resignation to King Albert II at the royal palace. It is unclear if it would be accepted. "Ik treed af!"
"Eh? Wot's that?"
"Je démissionne!"
"Eh?"
"I'm outta here!"
"Oh. So you are. Very well. Goodbye... Alfonse? Who was the man who just left?"
"The prime minister, yer majesty."
"Oh. We have a prime minister?"
"Not any more."
Leterme has been struggling to get his Cabinet to agree on proposed constitutional reforms that have paralyzed Belgian politics for more than a year. "Can we just get a little bit of agreement here? Just a little bit?"
"Non."
"Geen manier."
"Ummm... That doesn't make any sense in Dutch."
"It doesn't make any sense in Belgian, either!"
He had set a deadline of Tuesday for reaching a deal on the autonomy issues. Flemish parties want the prosperous Dutch-speaking north of Belgium to be more autonomous. Francophone parties accuse Dutch-speakers of trying to cut loose the economically lagging Wallonia area. Maybe they should try another language. Is anybody still using Lettish? How about Luvian?
Posted by: Fred ||
07/15/2008
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#2
Lettish? That would be the Latvians, Fred. My paternal grandmother, the linguist and educator, was involved in formalizing that one, which moved it from the status of peasant dialect to proper language. I'm going to have to google Luvian.
You speak Dutch, too? I'm jealous! I only had a year to work on that one. But you've definitely got the Belgians pegged. When we were there, the locals chose to speak in English rather than be forced to speak in the other language. All except the Germans over in their little corner of the country, who just desperately didn't want to be forced to rejoin Germany.
#3
Partition Belgium. Give the Phlegmish to the Netherlands and the Wal-loons to France. Give the King a villa on the Italian riviera. Everybody's happy.
#4
Well heck. It's small enough and it's already 75% of the way there........make it the EU equivalent to Washington DC! Then any language is fine and no one has any power!! (except of course the oligarchy)
The rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which last week kidnapped three Germans in Turkey, said Sunday it was "strong enough" to hit German economic targets, an agency close to the group reported. The group also renewed a call on Berlin to end "hostile" policies towards the group in return for the release of three climbers, kidnapped in the east of the country.
A PKK statement, carried by the Firat news agency, singled out Chancellor Angela Merkel's government as the target of the hostage-taking, saying that the group had no ill feelings against Germany as a nation.
"Had we had (such feelings) we could have inflicted greater damage to German economic interests in Turkey... We are strong enough to inflict such damage," it said. "The Merkel government, together with the Turkish government, must give up sacrificing the Kurdish people's freedom struggle in the name of certain economic interests," it added.
On Tuesday the PKK seized three German climbers on Mt. Ararat in the eastern province of Agri. The rebels said they would keep the hostages unless Berlin ended a crackdown on PKK militants and their supporters in Germany, which is home to about 2.4 million immigrants from Turkey, including about 600,000 Kurds.
Last month, German authorities banned the Danish-based Roj TV from broadcasting in the country because it promoted the PKK. They also also ordered the closure of a production house that supplied the channel with programming.
In an interview with Germany's Bild newspaper on Sunday, Merkel issued a personal appeal for the immediate release of the hostages, saying that Berlin would not allow itself to be blackmailed. Earlier this week, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier rejected demands for a change of policy towards the PKK in exchange for the hostages' freedom.
(Xinhua) -- Pakistani Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani Monday expressed his concerns about attacks similar to the 9.11 attack if foreign extremists continue to interfere in Pakistan's tribal regions.
Endorsing the concern of the United States on Pakistan's tribal areas, Gilani said, "it is a matter of concern that extremists from Chechnya, Uzbekistan and Afghanistan arrive in the tribal areas."
"These people are disturbing our peace," Gilani told reporters after awarding certificates to the motorway police here.
The News Network International news agency quoted Gilani as saying that the United States agreed with Pakistan's policy about tribal regions and he did not want another 9.11 attack in the future.
The United States supports Pakistani government's policy on combating terrorism and extremism in the country and it has its own concerns over the involvement of foreign elements in terrorist activities on Pakistani soil so that there are no major mishaps infuture, said Gilani.
Pakistan would never allow anyone to carry operations against the terrorists on its soil, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/15/2008
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#1
Pakistan would never allow anyone to carry operations against the terrorists on its soil, he said.
Local Taliban blew up a Frontier Constabulary (FC) fort in the Zargari area of Hangu on Monday, as security forces opened sporadic fire on suspected militant hideouts.
Taliban had allowed safe passage to the 40 FC personnel posted at the fort. ARY One World reported that the Taliban occupied the fort and snatched weapons from the FC personnel.
He said the Taliban had allowed safe passage to the 40 FC personnel posted at the fort. However, Geo News said only five FC men were at the fort. ARY One World reported that the Taliban occupied the fort and snatched weapons from the FC personnel.
Doaba curfew: The town of Doaba remained under curfew for the fifth consecutive day, paralysing the daily activities of local residents. However, the Hangu-Tall-Parachinar Road was opened to traffic.
Meanwhile, a 15-member jirga left Hangu to initiate dialogue with local Taliban for the restoration of peace. Similarly, MNA Pir Haider Ali Shah and District Nazim Haji Khan Afzal met area elders at the district co-ordination officer's office and initiated contact with the provincial government.
According to a Dawn News report, army troops have already occupied strategic positions in Hangu.
Tribal lashkar: Geo News, meanwhile, reported that hundreds of armed men of the Shinwari and Naryab tribes have announced the formation of a tribal laskhar to fight the Taliban in Hangu. It quoted tribal leaders as saying that the laskhar of 200 armed men was formed after the Taliban killed 17 paramilitary soldiers. According to Geo, the Taliban presence in the area has visibly reduced following the formation of the lashkar.
This article starring:
Doaba
Hangu-Tall-Parachinar Road
Zargari area of Hangu
District Nazim Haji Khan Afzal
Hangu District Naib Nazim Gul Karim
MNA Pir Haider Ali Shah
Posted by: Fred ||
07/15/2008
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Top|| File under: Taliban
#1
The Taliban are meanies. We should send them to their room with no supper.
The takeover of the Ziarat marble quarry, a coveted national asset, is "one of the boldest examples" of how the Taliban have made Pakistan's Tribal Areas far more than a base for training camps or a launching pad for sending fighters into Afghanistan, according to a New York Times report published on Monday.
In April, the Taliban appeared and imposed a firm hand. They settled a feud between tribes over the possession of the marble reserves, and demanded a fat fee up front and a tax on every truck that ferried the treasure from the quarry. Since then, Mir Zaman, a contractor from the Masaud subtribe, which was picked by the Taliban to run the quarry, has watched contentedly as his trucks roll out of the quarry with colossal boulders bound for refining in nearby towns. "With the Taliban it is not a question of a request to us, but a question of force," said Zaman, a bearded, middle-aged tribal leader who seemed philosophical about the reality of Taliban authority here. At least the quarry was now operating, he said.
Today the Taliban not only settle disputes in their consolidated domain but they also levy taxes, smuggle drugs and other contraband, and impose their own brand of rough justice, complete with courts and prisons.
Today the Taliban not only settle disputes in their consolidated domain but they also levy taxes, smuggle drugs and other contraband, and impose their own brand of rough justice, complete with courts and prisons.
From the security of this border region, they deploy their fighters and suicide bombers in two directions: against NATO and American forces over the border in southern Afghanistan, and against Pakistani forces -- police, army and intelligence officials -- in major Pakistani cities.
Of all the minerals in the Tribal Areas, the marble from Ziarat is one of the most highly prized for use in expensive floors and walls in Pakistan, and in limited quantities abroad. The Taliban decided that one mountain in the Ziarat area belonged to the Masaud division of the main Safi tribe, and said that the Gurbaz subtribe would be rewarded with another mountain, Zaman, the contractor, said. The Taliban also demanded a tax of about $7 on each truckload of marble, he said. With a constant flow of trucks out of the quarry, the Taliban are now collecting up to $500 a day, Zaman said.
Today the quarry runs as a relatively rudimentary affair using dynamite, but the quarry's reopening has given something to everyone.
The Taliban are today a loose organisation of mostly ethnic Pashtuns divided in two wings, one on each side of the border. Their leader in Mohmand goes by the name Abdul Wali, a guerrilla fighter in his 30s who rose to prominence last year when his group occupied a famous shrine in the village of Ghazi Abad in Mohmand. He is affiliated with the overall leader of the Pakistani Taliban, Baitullah Mehsud, a powerful ally of Al Qaeda who keeps his base in South Waziristan, another part of the Tribal Areas.
Working with Al Qaeda, the Taliban have steadily tightened their grip over much of the Tribal Areas. In Mohmand, the Taliban have speedily consolidated control in the last year. "In every agency the most powerful man is the Taliban," Orekzei said. "Because if someone says, 'I'm in favour of the government,' he will be killed."
The territory has become a magnet for other militants from farther fields as well. The government security force, a paramilitary group called the Frontier Corps, which serves under the command of the Pakistani Army, does little to challenge the Taliban in the Tribal Areas, despite occasional skirmishes. With the government so weak, the Taliban are accepted as the ruling power in many places in the Tribal Areas, local officials say.
This article starring:
Ghazi Abad
Mohmand
Pakistan's Tribal Areas
South Waziristan
Ziarat
ABDUL WALI
Taliban
BAITULLAH MEHSUD
Taliban
Posted by: Fred ||
07/15/2008
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Top|| File under: Taliban
As Airbus and the commercial arm of Boeing busy themselves totting up $25bn (£12.5bn) worth of new aircraft orders, the military hardware makers are going for the kill. Literally. During Monday's aerial display at the Farnborough airshow, Lockheed Martin's F-22 fighter jet was the only aircraft that had not before seen at an airshow.
And although its weapons were hidden inside the aircraft to aid its radar-evading capabilities, it soon became clear that this was a plane with a mission. "Carrying weapons is kind of the business side of this job," says Larry Lawson, executive vice president and general manager in charge of developing Lockheed Martin's F-22 fighter jet. "Being lethal is important."
The F-22's aerial acrobatics lasted for more than a quarter of an hour, as it spun and twisted, roared and hovered, the pilot in charge of the single-seat jet - Major Paul Moga of the US Air Force 27th Fighter Squadron - clearly enjoying the sensation of total control.
"If you know the principles of flight, it defies that," gasped General Tan Sri Azizan, chief of staff of the Malaysian air force.
The F-22 is arguably the world's most sophisticated fighter jet, a so-called fifth generation jet, hailed by US pilots in a promotional video showed by Lockheed Martin as excellent at "taking care of the air threat, paving the way for the bombers to get through". But, as Mr Lawson points out, when it comes to warfare, merely surviving is not enough. "An ability to turn fast and accelerate away means you survive more," he says, yet it is the ability to "chase down an adversary" that wins the battle.
Similar sentiments are apparent in the ongoing US election race, where the eventual winner will be asked to find the money to fund the cash to fund a further 198 aircraft in addition to the 183 F-22s already approved - 122 of which have already been delivered. And with each plane costing more than $140m apiece, plus development costs, it is a tall order, not least since there is no cash in the existing 2009 Congressional budget.
A decision may not come until January 2009, which means there will be a troublesome delay that will at best make the project more expensive. A worse outcome, at least from Lockheed Martin's point of view, could be the scrapping of the F-22 project - the most likely outcome if the next president chooses not to order any more F-22s.
It is a scenario that gives Lockheed Martin's executives itchy feet. "This type of technology is not only addressing the threats we are facing, but also the fiscal constraints," insisted Mr Weiss. "We need to recapitalise... a significantly reduced force structure compared with what we had 10-15 years ago."
An obvious alternative would be to sell the plane to governments other than the US, though that has been banned by Congress. There are two reasons for this: One, the Americans are concerned about such a superior machine falling into wrong hands. Two, selling the F-22 to others could upset the eight contributing members of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter family, which is already an unharmonious bunch.
It seems some nimble manoeuvering may be required for Lockheed Martin to secure the future of its flagship aircraft.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/15/2008
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#1
Hovered?
I don't think so.
Slow flight, just barely hanging on and thrust vectoring helps. But hovering? You want hovering, call 1-800-Sikorsky.
Henry Martin "Scoop" Jackson (D-WA)
Samuel Augustus Nunn, Jr. (D-GA)
Richard Russell, Jr. (D-GA)
Russell B. Long (D-LA)
John C. Stennis (D-MS)
Sam Ervin (D-NC)
Stuart Symington (D-MO)
Posted by: Red Dawg ||
07/15/2008 1:53
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#3
At the ever increasing cost of these things, eventually, we'll be able to afford one. It can be shared on alternating dates between the Air Force and Navy. The Marines can get it on Leap Day every four years.
Maybe yes, maybe no....but close enough in operation for government work. I saw an F22 demonstration about a month ago and it was jaw dropping impressive.
I came away with the feeling that maybe, just maybe, we have finally come up with a design that can stay in the same sky with a Zero.
Posted by: Kelly ||
07/15/2008 9:48
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#5
How about just stating the incremental cost of each additional aircraft othout tryign to add in development costs?
R&D is already sunk cost. Its paid.
Biggest question is that do we *need* more of these?
I'd say yes - to completely replace the F-15 and F-16. Do we need 189 more? I dont know. Probably less.
#6
This plane has become some peoples' bete noir. They'd rather see almost anything rather than any more of these...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
07/15/2008 10:09
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#7
"Hovered? I don't think so."
I've seen one hoover at an air show, not in a horizontal position but a vertical position. It flew straight up then slowed to a stop and hoovered for several seconds then slowly dropped its nose and flew away in level flight.
#2
Fred, I'd estimate that you and I are the only two people on Rantburg that would know about the Burkina Faso/Upper Volta link! Just another one of those African countries that change names as often as they change leaders...
Dorothy looks like she just heard that Bob can't buy the paper to print Zimbucks on any more.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/15/2008 10:58
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#3
Three. Showing my age. To be fair, it's been a long time since the upright guys changed their name.
Posted by: James ||
07/15/2008 15:23
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#4
You'd be wrong, OP (LGF's redoubtable Shiplord Kirel and my humble self are the same person, a fact already known to certain Rantburgeoisie, but here's proof.)
#5
Wow, I'm surrounded by other Geography freaks (either that, or you're all stamp collectors, too). Next you guys will be telling me you also collect atlases...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/15/2008 21:20
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#6
Upper Volta? That's the 220 outlet, right?
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/15/2008 21:52
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#7
We don't collect atlasses as such (although we have several), Old Patriot, but we do collect maps of the places we've been to. Will that do?
Frank, dear, there's no question you'll burn in hell. ;-)
'Tis you indeed, dear Atomic Conspiracy. I'd wondered.
#1
Compare wid ALTERNET.org > WITH THE SUDDEN IRAQI DEMAND FOR WITHDRAWAL OF US TROOPS, BUSH HAS LOST THE WAR.
The Islamist priority right now, in the absence of any unilateral US attack and occupation of IRAN, IS TO NUCLEARIZE AND STRATWEAPONIZE AMAP ASAP. AFRICA TO ASIA > HOTBED OF THIRD WORLD INDIGENOUS NUCLEARIZATION DRIVES - even iff the USA should indeed successfully attack and occupy Iran per se, Radical Islam believes they would still stand a potent chance of acquiring NUCTECHS VIA NUCLEARIZING AFRICAN-ASIAN NATIONS, BE THEY ALLIED ENEMY or NEUTRAL vv USA + WOT.
Methinks its more correct to say IRAQ is in a TEMPORARY LULL until such time Radical Islam had rebuilt and is ready to wage new insurgencies and destabilizations again, save this time Nuclearized. NOW IS ALSO THE TIME FOR THE PRO-US IRAQI + AFGHAN-PAKI GOVTS TO STRENGTHEN THEMSELVES FOR THE FUTURE NEW ISLAMIST ONSLAUGHT WHICH THEIR MUSLIM POLS KNOW WILL EVENTUALLY COME.
#6
It's like the Mexican border for twenty years after the ACW, with 'insurgents' crossing and raiding, all in the face of budget constraints put upon our military by a resurgent and vengeful Donk controlled Congress. Things don't change much, other than the names of the players. Different line up, same game.
#7
Arm the Uzbeks and Tadjiks and let them fight it out with the Pushtuns. It doesn't matter who wins.
Hear, hear. Muslims will be killing and stealing (on as large a scale as they are allowed) no matter what you [West] do (an inevitable consequence of perceiving life as zero sum game)---might as well limit the damage by redirecting their belligerence inward.
#9
Another Uzbekistan, another Tadjikistan, a Pastunstan, a Talibanstan.
I vote for Glassastan, as in green, glowing and radioactive.
Posted by: Grease Dark Lord of the Algonquins9226 ||
07/15/2008 12:58
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#10
We should give them another year, if it doesn't work dump the idea of Democracy in Afghanistan and install the toughest mother from the North to keep a lid on the Pashtun and their poppy fields.
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/15/2008 18:21
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#13
ION WAFF.com [paraph] > CUTTING EDGE NEWS - IRAN [IRGC] SECRETLY ORDERS PRIVATE CIVILIAN COMPANIES TO PLAN FOR [Covert]RESUMPTION OF NUCLEAR CENTRIFUGE PRODUCTION [Advanced P2's]???
Two alleged gang members were killed early yesterday at Shyampur in the capital as they were caught in 'crossfire' between the Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) and the gang named 'Rozen Bahini'. "Rozen?"
"Nah, but it is a mite chilly this morning."
According to the Rab, Mosharraf Hossain Sentu, 26, and Rezaul Karim, 23, were members of the infamous Rozen Bahini and they had been dodging arrest for a long time as there are numerous criminal cases including murder cases filed against them on twelve systems.
However, family members claimed that Sentu and Rezaul, who were friends with each other, were innocent and a local criminal might have persuaded Rab to kill them. "Pure as the driven snow, they were! And kind to their mothers."
Rezaul's father Mohammad Ali said there is no case against his son who was a salesman at a Punjabi store at Jatrabari. The place to go if you want to buy a slightly used Punjabi....
Sentu's uncle Sirajul Islam said there was only one case filed against his nephew for extortion and the case was filed by local criminal Aminul with Jatrabari Police Station. His family members said Sentu came home two years ago after spending five years in South Korea and started a clothing store named Dilruba Garments at Kaliganj in Keraniganj.
The Rab in a press release claimed that Sentu and Rezaul were dreaded criminals and locals were so afraid of them that did not dare to file any case against them.
A team of Rab 10 arrested the two, close accomplices of gang leader Rozen, from Jatrabari's Banshpotti area, the Rab press release said adding that Rozen Bahini used to extort money from residents of Demra, Jatrabari and Shyampur areas and the gang members were known for sending shrouds and bullets to those who refused to comply with their demand. "Who was that masked man?"
"I don't know, but he left this shroud and a silver bullet."
"Uh oh."
At around 3:30 in the morning yesterday, the Rab went to Shaheed Moktar Hossain Road of Shyampur along with Sentu and Rezaul after the two had confessed that members of the Rozen Bahini used to gather in the area before committing a crime, the Rab statement said. This would be your standard moonlight drive to the lair of the cadre. It won't end well, at least for our two wayward youths. Trust me.
Soon after the Rab reached the area, they came under heavy fire from criminals hiding around, the statement claimed adding that the crime busters then returned fire, ensuing a 30-minute-long gunfight when Sentu and Rezaul were apparently shot and killed while fleeing their custody. See? Told ya
After the gunfight was over, members of the Rab, police and locals searched the area and found Sentu and Rezaul's dead bodies along with seven bullets and three firearms -- a revolver and two pipe guns. Funny how the rest of the gang always escapes without leaving a trace
Two Rab members -- Sub-inspector Mobarak Ali and Nayek Siddiqur Rahman -- sustained injuries during the operation, the Rab claimed in the press release. "Now listen, you've had that safe lifting briefing a dozen times. Lift the stiff with your legs, not with your back!"
Posted by: Fred ||
07/15/2008
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#1
Two Rab members -- Sub-inspector Mobarak Ali and Nayek Siddiqur Rahman -- sustained injuries during the operation, the Rab claimed in the press release.
The RAB is going to have to do some more training. When you're in one of these "encounters", you DON'T shoot straight up. What goes up must come down, and it can smart if you're between the falling object (bullet) and a hard place (the ground).
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/15/2008 11:07
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VIENNA - The International Atomic Energy Agency's governors will meet on Aug. 1 to consider India's draft plan for nuclear inspections submitted to help launch a US-Indian nuclear trade deal, IAEA officials said. If the governors approve the plan, India and the United States must win clearance from a 45-nation group that controls sensitive nuclear trade, then ratification by the US Congress for the three-year-old nuclear deal to take force.
A (special) meeting of the (35-nation) IAEA board of governors will take place on Aug. 1 with the India Safeguards agreement on the agenda, Melissa Fleming, spokeswoman for the Vienna-based UN nuclear watchdog, said without elaborating.
After a delay caused by a split in the governing coalition over the 2005 deal, India took the first step toward implementing it last Wednesday by sending the plan for inspections of its civilian nuclear reactors to the IAEA board.
Washington said a day later it would seek to expedite the nuclear cooperation accord with India over international and domestic hurdles with time running out before an effective deadline set by US elections in November.
The deal has aroused controversy since India is outside the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), tested nuclear bombs in 1974 and 1998 and says the accord will not curb its military nuclear programme -- including the right to more tests if needed. The nuclear deal would be a landmark for India's relations with the West and would allow it access to US civilian nuclear fuel and technology, unlocking an energy market worth billions of dollars for European and US nuclear firms.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/15/2008
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Barack Obama yesterday pledged to increase US troops in Afghanistan by a third if he becomes president, sending 10,000 more to reinforce the 33,000 already there.
Obama has promised, soon after becoming president in January, to begin scaling back the 156,000 US troops in Iraq and Kuwait, and to shift the focus to Afghanistan. He is to fill out his plans in a foreign policy speech in Washington today ahead of his first visit to Iraq and Afghanistan since he launched his presidential bid early last year.
Details of his trip have been kept secret for security reasons but a senior Palestinian spokesman, Saeb Erekat, disclosed yesterday that Obama would be in the region next week, with a meeting in the West Bank on July 23 with the ineffectual Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas.
Perfect, since Abbas doesn't stand for anything and can't do anything ...
Bill Burton, a spokesman for Obama, said today's speech "will focus on the global strategic interests of the United States, which includes ending our misguided effort in Iraq". He added that a gradual, phased withdrawal of US troops "will allow the US to properly address the growing threat from a resurgent al-Qaida in Afghanistan".
Previewing the speech in an article written for the comment page of the New York Times yesterday, Obama wrote: "As president, I would pursue a new strategy and begin by providing at least two additional combat brigades to support our effort in Afghanistan. We need more troops, more helicopters, better intelligence-gathering and more non-military assistance to accomplish our mission there." He said that ending the war in Iraq is "essential to meeting our broader strategic goals, starting in Afghanistan and Pakistan, where the Taliban is resurgent and al-Qaida has a safe haven".
In a separate comment on the campaign trail, Obama said the killings on Sunday reinforced the need to switch resources from Iraq to Afghanistan. "I continue to believe that we're under-resourced in Afghanistan," he said. "That is the real centre for terrorist activity that we have to deal with and deal with aggressively."
This concern of yours seems a little .. sudden, Senator. You could have brought this up anytime the last two years and sponsored a bill in Congress to pay for more effort in Afghanistan.
His Republican rival, John McCain, is also to discuss Afghanistan this week. Randy Scheunemann, a senior McCain foreign policy adviser, noted yesterday that Obama had voted in the senate last year against increased resources for US troops in Afghanistan. "Senator Obama is not trying to have it both ways, he's trying to have it every way," Scheunemann said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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#1
He could order the entire US Army there, and they would at least prepare to go. However, it is unlikely that they would be able to get there, as the number of clerical errors would approach infinity.
He could order this and order that, and replace senior officers like musical chairs. And when all was said and done, there would be a lot of retirements, boot lickers would have been promoted, but not a damn soldier would have found his way to Afghanistan.
He can order until he is blue in the face, and none would dare call it mutiny. Lethargy, ennui, inefficiency, maybe, but not mutiny.
#2
I will never vote for the copperhead dems but if BO is constitutionally elected I expect the military to adhere to their oath and follow orders to their upmost ability. I took that oath and I find comments like those from Anonymoose despicable and the type of thing one would hear in a banana republic.
I, (NAME), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.
Dogsbody, there is a reason the bold text comes before obeying the orders of the President. That reason is to allow the Military to carry out their primary allegiance, which is to The Constitution and The Nation first should someone be elected President and be proven an enemy of the United States.
Obama isn't even elected and I already consider him along with all the Dems and a good percentage of the Repubs to be internal enemies. There is nothing despicable about Anonymooses post.
Maybe you should reread the oath and ask yourself where your primary allegiance lies.
#4
dogsbody: "The Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) 809.ART.90 (20), makes it clear that military personnel need to obey the "lawful command of his superior officer," 891.ART.91 (2), the "lawful order of a warrant officer", 892.ART.92 (1) the "lawful general order", 892.ART.92 (2) "lawful order". In each case, military personnel have an obligation and a duty to only obey Lawful orders and indeed have an obligation to disobey Unlawful orders, including orders by the president that do not comply with the UCMJ. The moral and legal obligation is to the U.S. Constitution and not to those who would issue unlawful orders, especially if those orders are in direct violation of the Constitution and the UCMJ.
During the Iran-Contra hearings of 1987, Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii, a decorated World War II veteran and hero, told Lt. Col. Oliver North that North was breaking his oath when he blindly followed the commands of Ronald Reagan. As Inouye stated, "The uniform code makes it abundantly clear that it must be the Lawful orders of a superior officer. In fact it says, 'Members of the military have an obligation to disobey unlawful orders.' This principle was considered so important that we-we, the government of the United States, proposed that it be internationally applied in the Nuremberg trials."
The devil, however, is in the details.
Both Bush administrations spent months carefully arranging the *international* legal groundwork for invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, and extended military operations in both nations. While some of this is still debated, in the opinion of most legal scholars, it was more than enough to insure compliance with international law, the Geneva Conventions, US national law, and the UCMJ.
However, *neither* Jimmy Carter nor Bill Clinton could be bothered with such difficult and time consuming efforts as establishing a legal groundwork for offensive operations. Carter's order directing the Iranian hostage rescue was not only an unlawful act of aggressive war, but incorporated elements in contravention of numerous treaties, US law, and the UCMJ. Incorporated into the plan would have been significant collateral civilian casualties as an intentional part of the attack.
Bill Clinton was equally willing to ignore international law by ordering a cruise missile attack against a non-belligerent nation and an internationally protected target, a baby food factory. That it was based on flawed intelligence in no way changes the character of the act being unlawful.
Barack Obama has not so far demonstrated either an understanding of compliance with international treaties, US law, the UCMJ, or to incorporate individuals into his prospective administration different than that of his Democrat predecessors.
Unless he does so, almost any military action he contemplates has a staggeringly high chance to be unlawful. And following such orders does not have as a defense that you were only following orders. And while disobedience of lawful orders, or mutiny, is a punishable offense, the reasonable alternative is to be unable to carry out unlawful orders due to inefficiency.
This is defensible in court, and insulates military personnel from prosecution.
#5
Barack Obama yesterday pledged to increase US troops in Afghanistan by a third
With Iraq winding down we are already seeing a bit of relocation of troops to A'stan, and BO is probably right that at least a third more are needed. That said, it is tough to do, because of the logistical issues of supplying them through quasi-enemy territory.
Posted by: Menhaden S ||
07/15/2008 7:42
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#6
A free and independant Arab Balochistan would solve that logistic problem. Bandar Abbas is a very nice port.
If youve followed the RB posts on the Baluchi insurgents, I dont think youd consider them terribly reliable potential allies.
OTOH, if promise the Russkie we wont admit Ukraine or Georgia into NATO anytime soon, we can probably get their indefinite cooperation on access via the central asian stans.
#9
Carter's order directing the Iranian hostage rescue was not only an unlawful act of aggressive war, but incorporated elements in contravention of numerous treaties, US law, and the UCMJ.
Huh? You lost me Moose. The violation of the embassy and holding American diplomatic personnel was a causa bellum. The Hague Convention of 1907 stipulates that if the host country isn't going to act, then we may pursue our own actions. If you want precedent, just look up the founding father Jefferson and the dealings with the Barbary pirates. He help write the book. Congress doesn't have to meet and issue paper every time the President needs to address a crisis be it on the, then, frontier or internationally. That is why the intent of the founders was to keep the military small, less of a tool to jam into somewhere.
#10
Procopius2k: A very unknown part of the Iranian hostage rescue plan I got right from the horses mouth at the US Army Chemical School at Ft. McClellan, AL.
Carter's rage was such that he directed the army to produce over a ton of agent BZ, which had been eliminated from stocks, and to initiate the hostage rescue with a chemical attack on Tehran. And if you examine the situation carefully, this appears to be about the only way this rescue mission could have worked.
Estimated civilian killed at over 10,000, even though BZ, a hallucinogen, is classified as "less than lethal".
Col. Charles Beckwith took the hit for the failure of the clusterfuck, which was guaranteed to not be reproducible because a list of the CIA informants in Tehran was left behind, and they were all arrested and executed.
I cannot suggest that the military intentionally fouled the mission, and with the loss of the lives of service members, to prevent the incredible international repercussions against the United States for clearly violating multiple treaties and US law.
However, had they fudged the mission intentionally, it would have been worth it.
Damn Carter his insane rage and lust for murderous revenge. He didn't care what it did to the US, as long as he got even.
But the military is more than aware of the risk having a Democrat president now entails. I cannot blame them for right now circling the wagons and protect the funding of critical projects.
And especially for not wanting to be ordered to war against a prepared enemy, with no support, ill-equipped, and on the whimsical order of someone who has no grasp of the military, war, history, diplomacy or foreign policy.
Soldiers can be ordered to undertake suicide missions, but they have the right not to be cursed while doing so.
#13
they have to obey the constitution, which specifies that the president is the commander in chief of the armed forces.
This is all silly, the armed forces of the US have obeyed Presidential orders since 1865. In all kinds of controversial situations, attacks, withdrawls, firings of commanders, etc.
And even in 1861, the currently serving officers who chose to join the confederacy formally resigned their commisions in the US Army, IIUC. There has never been a mass mutiny in US history, that I am aware of.
#16
In my opinion, both McCain and Obama have made about the same pledge regarding Afghanistan.
The main difference is that Obama doesn't call it a surge.
Furthermore, assuming that, in Sept. we determine that we can reduce the Iraq deployment by 30k over the next 6 months, that Afghanistan surge (or augment) becomes a very real option.
What would have been better though is to be able to use some of the 20k non combat Eurotroops in combat.
What would be even better is to be able to surge the Afghan army.
What would be best of all is to partly surge the Afghan army and also have Iraq deploy some of their forces to Afghanistan to help out the coalition there.
India has pulled out of the two-day Indo-Pak bilateral talks of investigating agencies scheduled for Tuesday in Islamabad, sources told Daily Times on Monday.
Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Director Vijay Shankar was scheduled to lead a delegation for talks with his Pakistani counterparts in the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). The sources here said the CBI director's visit has been cancelled after a cue from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
Anguish: Though no reason has been cited to the cancellation of the visit, the sources said the move was aimed at to convey India's anguish at the suicide attack on Indian embassy in Kabul. India has officially alleged involvement of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence in the attack. Pakistan has, however, rejected such allegations terming them "baseless".
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#1
ION INDIA > ONCE HINDU NEPAL TO GIVE MUSLIMS' RIGHTS.
Ma'an - Israeli forces raided the town of Kafr Dan, west of the city of Jenin, searching a number of buildings overnight, witnesses reported on Monday. Residents of the town told Ma'an that Israeli forces conducted house-to-house raids from 1am to 5:30am. No one was arrested.
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The NWFP government has released 25 Taliban under a peace pact signed with the Taliban based in Swat. Talking to reporters, Awami National Party (ANP) Senior Minister Bashir Ahmed Bilour said the provincial government was willing to resolve all disputes via dialogue and had released 25 Taliban in accordance with the peace pact. He said the remaining Taliban would also be freed soon, adding, "The peace dialogue will continue and the government will do everything possible to maintain peace in the province."
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#1
The NWFP government are really nice. They should get ice cream for a treat.
Ma'an -- The Fatah-affiliated Dalal Al-Mughrabi brigades claimed responsibility for shooting at the Al-Julma military checkpoint, near Jenin early on Monday morning. The brigades said in a statement that a number of their members had managed to approach the Al- Jalama checkpoint and open fire, before withdrawing safely. They added that the attack was a response to Israeli crimes against Palestinians.
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#1
IRNA > UK READY TO PROSCRIBE/OUTLAW HIZBULLAH'S ENTIRE MILITARY WING [But NOt POLITICAL WING]???
ALso, BIGNEWSNETWORK/TOPIX > LEBANON READY/WILLING TO USE MILITARY FORCE TO ENFORCE SOVEREIGNTY OVER SHEBAA [CHEBAA] FARMS, + ISRAEL HELPING SYRIA IMPROVE ITS GLOBAL IMAGE.
The ruling coalition has not honoured its promise to root out terrorism from the country, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain said on Monday.
Shujaat said law and order in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) had gone from bad to worse and had reached a stage where even Afghan President Hamid Karzai was threatening Pakistan with dire consequences.
"There has been no positive change in the country's circumstances though four months have passed since the ruling coalition came into power. The government has failed and the people are disappointed," said Shujaat, while addressing a news conference at Justice (r) Muhammad Azam's residence.
He condemned the US-led allied forces air strikes in Tribal Areas and foreign threats to integrity and solidarity of Pakistan, saying his party would shortly submit a resolution to the National Assembly to condemn violations of Pakistani borders.
The PML-Q leaders said the ruling parties had promised the people before the February general elections they would formulate policies that would rid the country of terrorism and extremism. "They have not fulfilled their promises," they said.
Peace dialogue: Shujaat supported peace dialogues between the local Taliban and the provincial government. "The PML-Q will continue supporting peace dialogues if they (local Taliban) stop attacking the security forces and the law and order situation improves," he said.
Shujaat said the country was in a deep crisis and was confronting serious problems, which could only be solved with a national consensus. He said inflation was growing unchecked and no progress had been made in reinstating the sacked judges.
Shujaat said the PML-Q leadership had neither met Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari nor did they have any plan to meet him. He said the PML-Q stood by its decision to sit on the opposition benches.
As for change in the Punjab government, the PML-Q chief said it would come within the House and there was no need for the PML-Q to contact anyone.
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(SomaliNet) As anxiety rose over growing insecurity and the unexplained killings of humanitarian staff, local aid workers in Somalia held crisis meetings on Sunday. This year, unidentified gunmen have killed at least three aid workers in the anarchic Somalia and are holding four of their foreign colleagues hostage. In the past week, fears were raised further by leaflets threatening local NGO workers with death if they did not quit their jobs.
Sheikh Abdirahim Isse Adow, an Islamist spokesperson, condemned the killings of humanitarian workers. However, he accused some aid agencies of siding with the government and singled out the United Nations Development Programme for criticism, saying it had provided the police with vehicles and salaries.
Since development usually requires a competent police force ...
Aid sources said most agencies working in Somalia were discussing suspending operations in Mogadishu and the south. "It really is the end of the world if we now have to face death just because we are helping poor people," said a local doctor, who asked not to be identified.
In the latest violence, men armed with pistols shot dead the deputy head of a German charity south of the capital on Friday.
A week ago, gunmen killed Osman Ali Ahmed, the local head of the UNDP, in a similar attack. The governor of Baidoa, which hosts Somalia's parliament, said yesterday that UNDP staff had withdrawn from the town. "We expected them to stay and complete their projects, but now they have fled," Abdifatah Mohamed said.
And he can't understand why, either ...
UNDP officials could not immediately be contacted for comment.
As they were fleeing ...
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#1
Who would blame them, I know I sure as hell wouldn't want to be the only asshole in Somalia without a gun.
#2
I thought we were taking the fight to wherever the terrorists were? If they have fled Iraq for greener pastures in Africa, we should be in hot pursuit. Also, the UNDP is noted for aiding the enemy and Somalia could just be their latest boondoggle. Nip this in the bud. Excerpt from a June 11 rport by Fox's George Russell: After more than two years of accusations and probes into the operations of the United Nations Development Program in North Korea, a weighty report finally reveals how routinely, and systematically, the agency disregarded U.N. regulations on how it conducted itself in Kim Jong-Ils brutal dictatorship, passing on millions of dollars to the regime in the process.
The 353-page report, by a three-member External Independent Investigative Review Panel appointed by UNDP to investigate itself, was published with much fanfare last week after nine months of political maneuvering and research.
Click here to read the full report (pdf).
The report depicts an organization that for years apparently considered itself immune from its own rules of procedure as well as the laws and regulations of countries that were trying to keep weapons of mass destruction out of Kims hands.
#3
I'm under the impression that we're working our way in that direction slowly, Danielle, consolidating goodwill and small infrastructure improvements as we go.
(Xinhua) -- The Russian government has apologized to Swiss Economics Minister Doris Leuthard after she was frisked and forced to remove her shoes at the St. Petersburg airport, the official Swissinfo news website reported on Monday.
The incident happened on Saturday when Leuthard was stopped just before she boarded her plane on her way home following six days of talks aimed at building stronger links between Moscow and Bern.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said an inexperienced security officer at the airport had been unaware that Leuthard's diplomatic immunity exempted her from being searched, according to a spokesman of the Swiss Economics Ministry.
He said the Swiss Economics Ministry has accepted the apology and the issue was over.
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(Xinhua) -- South Korea on Monday strongly denounced Japan's territorial claim over the disputed islets of Dokdo, which Japan calls Takeshima, in the Sea of Japan, vowing to take series of countermeasures against Japan's move.
Japan's Education Ministry announced earlier on Monday its plan to define Dokdo as part of Japanese territory in a teacher's guidebook, which is expected to influence upcoming middle school textbooks to be published by Japan's civilian publishers and also serve as a guideline for teachers, to be used from 2012 despite Seoul's repeated opposition.
In response to the decision, the South Korean Foreign Ministry released a statement at a nationwide televised news conference, describing Japan's claim over the sovereignty to the disputed islets of Dokdo in its educational guidelines as "unacceptable and intolerable."
South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Moon Tae-young said at the conference that South Korean Ambassador to Japan Kwon Chul-hyun will return to Seoul soon on a temporary basis. "The South Korean government can never tolerate this and strongly urges the Japanese government to immediately stop the attempt," Moon said in the statement.
The spokesman said that Dokdo clearly belongs to South Korea " historically, geographically, and by international law." "The government makes it clear again that it will deal sternly with any attempt to undermine its sovereignty over Dokdo," he said.
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Wholesale prices in India grew by 11.89% in the year to the end of June, the fastest rate since the measure began in 1995. Inflation has tripled over the last six months, driven by the soaring cost of food and fuel.
Figures also showed that the output of India's factories grew by its slowest rate in six years. Industrial output rose 3.8% in May, compared to the same month in 2007, a sharp drop on the April's 6.2% growth. "The industrial output numbers ... are a reflection of manufacturers anticipating a slowdown in consumer spending as high inflation bites into incomes and some scale-back of fresh production plans," said economist Shuchita Mehta, from Standard Chartered Bank.
The Reserve Bank of India has been increasing interest rates to try and dampen inflation. Last month, it increased its main lending rate twice in two weeks to 8.5%.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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#1
And yesterday there was a story on Spain leading Europe into recession. I've been saying for a while that the high oil prices were not going to affect only the US economy. Decelleration of the Indian (and presumably Chinese) economy and recession of the Spanish (and presumably European) economy should reduce oil demand, and thus price (and also improve Dollar-Euro exchange rate and thus reduce dollar price for oil.)
These changes will also have a big effect on world trade, which will tend to pull down the US economy as well (though probably not as far or fast as others). Key question is can we avoid a 1920's-1930's style global depression? And if not, would we need another World War to get out of it? Between who? Muslims and everybody else? (Not calling for such, just wondering.)
Posted by: Menhaden S ||
07/15/2008 8:26
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#2
Muslims and everybody else?
I do not believe the Mohammedans are waiting for a recession to kick things off.
#3
I guess this is bad. As the economies of China and India mature they will produce a burgeoning middle class that will Spend. Millions, hundreds of millions of consumers that will Buy goods of all types. If you can't figure this as a positive thing, go back to night school and take some more econ. classes. There is a great deal of irrational fear and jealousy directed at China and India right now because of their economic growth. There is also a good bit of rational fear, but let's face it; we let them take it away from us, so who's really to blame?
Maulana Sultan Roomi, the head of Jamia Toheedul Isam, was killed and his two daughters critically injured on Monday when several armed men forcibly entered his house in Mansehra. According to details, the assailants opened fire on Roomi as soon as they forced their way into his house. Roomi died instantly while his daughters, Naseeb Jan and Rani Bano, received serious injuries. Police have registered a first information report and are investigating.
This article starring:
Mansehra
Jamia Toheedul Isam
Maulana Sultan Roomi
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#1
So, not Muslim enough? Too Muslim?
Enquiring minds....
A string of kidnappings and targeted killings of aid workers in Somalia in recent weeks has prompted some international and local agencies to suspend operations in Mogadishu and in other parts of the south. As VOA Correspondent Alisha Ryu reports from our East Africa Bureau in Nairobi, there is confusion about who may be responsible for the violence.
The head of a Somali group affiliated with the German charity Bread for the World says the organization has suspended operations in Somalia, following Friday's fatal shooting death of its deputy director at his home in Mogadishu.
In a separate attack earlier that day, the head of a local aid organization, SORDA, was critically wounded by gunmen, as he distributed food to internally displaced people south of the capital. Also on Friday, an aid worker was reportedly shot to death in a town in central Somalia as he left his house to attend services at a nearby mosque.
Eight days ago, gunmen shot and killed the director of the U.N. Development Program in Mogadishu. Leaflets threatening local aid workers with death if they continue working have been found in Mogadishu and elsewhere.
On Sunday, UNDP staff withdrew from the town of Baidoa, which hosts Somalia's transitional parliament, amid rising security concerns for its employees in the country.
The director of Mogadishu's Medina Hospital, Dr. Mohamed Yusuf, says even veteran humanitarian workers who have survived 17 years of lawlessness and violence in Somalia, acknowledge the current security situation is the worst they have faced. "Yes, they are afraid," he said. "Some of our colleagues, they got some threats. But you know, the situation is not so easy to talk about."
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(Xinhua) -- African Union Commission chief Jean Ping will meet South African President Thabo Mbeki on Friday to discuss Zimbabwe's political crisis, a presidential spokesman said. "President Mbeki invited Mr. Ping to brief him on developments in negotiations in the SADC-facilitated talks on Zimbabwe," Mukoni Ratshitanga said on Monday, referring to the 14-nation Southern African Development Community. "The meeting will take place on Friday," he said.
He declined to disclose details of the meeting, which will be held in South Africa's administrative capital Pretoria.
Mbeki is the SADC-appointed mediator for Zimbabwe, where a disputed presidential run-off was held last month. An African Union source had earlier said Ping was to travel to Pretoria on Monday to meet Mbeki following discussions between Zimbabwe's rival parties last week in South Africa.
The source later said the meeting had been delayed. "This meeting is aimed at accelerating the implementation of a resolution (of an AU summit in Egypt) on power sharing in Zimbabwe," the source said. A recent African Union summit ended with a call for dialogue between political parties in Zimbabwe and a national unity government.
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#1
He should certainly visit Monument Hill during his stay. A stop there might possibly serve as a poignant reminder of what could have been in Zim.
The JUI-F, which has been negotiating peace between two warring militant organisations in the Tirah Valley, said on Monday that a grand jirga would be held in Peshawar on July 17 to decide a truce. JUI-F NWFP General Secretary Shujaul Mulk, who led a delegation to the Tribal Areas to negotiate with the chiefs of the LI and the AI, told a press conference, "The JUI-F is optimistic about the outcome of the jirga from the way militant commanders received the JUI-F delegation." He said the jirga, which was previously scheduled to be held in the Hangu district, would be held in Peshawar due to the law and order situation in the valley. Separately, three more people were killed in clashes between the LI and the AI for the 19 consecutive day, bringing the toll to 115, Dawn News reported.
This article starring:
Peshawar
Tirah Valley
SHUJAUL MULK
JUI-F
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Leaders from Europe, the Middle East and North Africa - as well as United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon - joined French President Nicolas Sarkozy at the celebrations.
The world leaders were already in Paris for Sunday's inaugural Mediterranean Union summit.
The presence of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad among leaders reviewing the parade has angered human rights activists, opposition politicians and some in the French military who served in a United Nations peace force in Lebanon. Mr. Assad has been accused of sponsoring terrorism and undermining Middle East unity.
On the occasion of Bastille Day, Mr. Sarkozy granted his country's highest award - the Legion of Honor - to a number of notables, including former French-Colombian hostage Ingrid Betancourt.
The French national holiday commemorates the 1789 storming of the Bastille prison, which marked the beginning of the French Revolution.
Cities throughout France hold military parades in the morning and fireworks in the evening on July 14. The largest parade in the capital includes a flyover by air force jets. French communities worldwide also celebrate Bastille Day with picnics, parties and fireworks.
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#2
If so, the car-b-qs will be in honor of the thousands who died on the guillotine in the French Revolution.
Posted by: Rambler in California ||
07/15/2008 0:59
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#3
The French Revolution - the dark side of the enlightenment.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
07/15/2008 5:57
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#4
My favorite take on the day was made by the inimitable Gerald Warner (LINK ):
(excerpt)
Pompous parades will today celebrate the event that triggered the French Revolution, that is to say, the most appalling bloodbath anterior to the Russian Revolution. Seven prisoners were released from the Bastille - four counterfeiters, an accomplice to murder and two lunatics - whose return to the community was hardly beneficial. The attack on the prison, reserved for the well-off, was orchestrated by the Marquis de Sade and Camille Desmoulins on behalf of the Nine Sisters masonic lodge.
There followed the September massacres, the marriages republicains in which people of opposite sexes were stripped naked and lashed together in obscene postures before being drowned, mothers forced to watch their children being guillotined and the massacre of 400,000 Catholic royalists - the majority of them women and children - in La Vendee. Sounds like the perfect excuse for a celebratory knees-up.
There are two countries called France. One is the sluttish Republic - "Marianne" - the other is the timeless, civilised doyen of Christendom, the nation of Clovis and St Louis, of the Valois and Bourbon kings, the Catholic and monarchic civilisation that fell with Charles X in 1830 but still defiantly survives in many enclaves. That pulse will beat quietly today while the heirs of the sans-culottes strut their stuff, proclaiming French nationalism under the figurehead of a Hungarian president and his Italian wife.
#5
Initially the French Revolution 'worked' - the worst traits of the monarchy were replaced/being replaced by a constitutional government. Then the more radical elements of the Revolution (Jacobins et al) gained control of events, which resulted in the Reign of Terror, and ultimately the ascendance of Napolean and the bloody war of empire that followed. Revolutions are inherently chaotic - and controlling (or even predicting) where they will go is tough.
Our efforts in Iraq and A'stan are effectivly revolutions - and it has been challenging trying to manage the chaos.
Posted by: Menhaden S ||
07/15/2008 8:00
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#6
There are two countries called France...
Couldn't agree more, and, no, I'm no royalist nor monarchist.
#7
I've always thought that if the King had simply spent the funds required to fully stock the Bastille's armory with powder, the soldiers wouldn't have run out of powder for the cannon and been forced to surrender. It probably would have broken the back of the revolution.
TEHRAN (AFP) -- Iran has arrested two prominent student activists, the latest in a string of detentions following the anniversary of student protests nine years ago, the press reported on Monday. Mohammad Hashemi and Bahareh Hedayat were arrested and sent to the notorious Tehran prison of Evin on Sunday, the Etemad newspaper said. The two are members of the central council of the pro-reform student group The Office to Consolidate Unity.
This has raised the number of students arrested throughout the country to around 18 since the anniversary of student protests on July 9, 1999, the Kargozaran newspaper said. The reason for the arrests was not made clear to the families of the pair, the report said.
The other arrests have been made in the northeastern city of Mashhad, the southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan province and the province of Tehran.
Groups of students hold small gatherings annually to commemorate July 9, which marks the most significant clash between the authorities and students in the Islamic republic. The riots were sparked when hardline vigilantes stormed student dormitories and the ensuing violence left dozens of students wounded and many arrested.
Apparently there was a substantial march last week, and these guys were among the leaders.
Hashemi, Hedayat and some other members of their group were also arrested in July 2007 for holding a sit-in protest against the imprisonment of three colleagues from Tehran's Amir Kabir university, a hotbed of student activism. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was famously heckled during a 2006 speech at the prestigious university.
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Sindh Inspector General of Police Sultan Salahuddin Babar Khattak said on Monday that there were no Taliban in the seminaries of Karachi and the city faced no threat of Talibanisation. "Nope. Not a one. We asked around and everything."
Addressing a press conference here, the Sindh IGP said that seminaries in Karachi were under strict vigilance, adding that some families had migrated to Karachi due to unfavourable circumstances in Waziristan, but they were not involved in terrorist activities.
The IGP said that the recent bomb blasts in the city were carried out in a particular zone to create panic and lawlessness. He further said that a committee had been constituted to investigate into the matter.
Talking about the ongoing Lyari operation, the IGP said that similar but inconclusive action was taken against gang war in 2001, but peace was not restored in the area, although activists of different groups were apprehended. He said police would restore peace in Lyari through the currently underway operation.
Regarding the overall law and other situation in Sindh, Khattak said that it had improved during the last fifteen days. He said that positive results were achieved from the operation against anti-social elements in Shikarpur.
This article starring:
Karachi
Lyari
Shikarpur
Waziristan
Sindh Inspector General of Police Sultan Salahuddin Babar Khattak
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Istanbul's chief prosecutor says 86 people will be prosecuted under terrorism laws for attempting to overthrow the government. The indictments were made while the ruling Islamic AK Party is facing closure on charges of undermining the secular state.
Istanbul chief prosecutor Aykut Cengiz Engin told a news conference the 86 defendants have been indicted on terror charges. He says the indictment covers crimes such as forming an armed terror group and attempting to overthrow the government by force. The nearly 2,500-page indictment is the culmination of a 13-month investigation sparked by the discovery of a cache of arms and explosives in an Istanbul suburb. The investigation, held in secret under Turkey 's strict anti-terror laws, led to the detention of dozens of people, including alleged mafia members, businessmen and retired military officers.
The prosecutor says the plotters sought to bring chaos to the country. Cengiz says the defendants will face charges of seeking to provoke civil unrest, public disorder offenses, provoking disobedience within the army, and possession of explosives. He says the court has to decide whether to accept the case within 15 days.
The alleged conspirators are claimed to have called their gang Ergenekon, the name of a mythical land where Turks once were said to have sought refuge.
Since 1960, the army has forced four governments from office. The deputy editor of the Turkish daily Taraf, Yasmin Congar, says the case is a key moment for Turkish democracy. "If people manage to get to the roots of this Ergenekon gang and to basically kick them out of the state structure, then we can become a democratic country," he said. "If we do not do that it is going to be more coups, more interferences in politics by forces we do not know."
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(IsraelNN.com) Barack Obama, the Democratic party's nominee for U.S. President, retracted the statement he made at the AIPAC Convention in June, about the need for Jerusalem to remain Israel's undivided capital. Obama had already qualified the statement the day after he made it, but in a new CNN interview he effectively retracted it, blaming "poor phrasing" and careless syntax.
Interviewer Fareed Zakaria asked: "One area where you're outside the international consensus -- and certainly, perhaps, some others -- is the statement you made in a recent speech supporting Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel. Now, why not support the Clinton plan, which envisions a divided Jerusalem, the Arab half being the capital of a Palestinian state, the Jewish half being the capital of the Jewish state?"
Obama replied: "You know, the truth is that this was an example where we had some poor phrasing in the speech. And we immediately tried to correct the interpretation that was given.
"The point we were simply making was, is that we don't want barbed wire running through Jerusalem, similar to the way it was prior to the '67 war, that it is possible for us to create a Jerusalem that is cohesive and coherent.
"I was not trying to predetermine what are essentially final status issues. I think the Clinton formulation provides a starting point for discussions between the parties.
"And it is an example of us making sure that we are careful in terms of our syntax. But the intention was never to move away from that basic, core idea that they -- that those parties are going to have to negotiate these issues on their own, with the strong engagement of the United States.
"And if you look at the overall tenor of that speech and what I've said historically about this issue, you know, Israel has an interest not just in bunkering down. They've got to recognize that their long-term viability as a Jewish state is going to depend on their ability to create peace with their neighbors."
In the same speech to AIPAC, Obama said that he would never compromise on Israel's security and promised: "I will do everything in my power everything to ensure that Iran does not achieve a nuclear weapon."
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#1
ya know, I don't have any problems with folks changing their mind - especially in the face of new evidence - but when they change it in a metter of days, and then try and convince us it never did change ...
Well, then you've got politics.
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/15/2008 6:14
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#2
"..You know, the truth is that this was an example where we had some poor phrasing in the speech. And we immediately tried to correct the interpretation that was given..."
#5
What the f*ck makes him think we have any business telling the Israelis how their capital should be laid out.
That's like saying we should give Mexico half of D.C., divide it right down the middle. That would make a cohesive and coherent arrangement there too.
What a dickweed, but the GOP has a bad habit of sticking their nose into Israeli politics too.
#6
You know after a while you get enough stuff under the bus, it loses traction. You'll know that when the occupants start rocking the bus trying to get one of the tires to make contact.
The Taliban have shot dead at least seven Afghan civilians whom they captured on suspicion of working for the government or other organisations, police and the militants said on Monday.
The civilians were taken from cars, buses and taxis that were stopped on the main road between Kabul and the southern city of Kandahar on Sunday, said the Deputy Police Chief for Zabul province Jailani Khan. "They have shot them dead. Their bodies are with the police," he said.
The seven were abducted in Ghazni province, south of Kabul, and killed in neighbouring Zabul, he said. The Police Chief of Ghazni Khan Mohammad Mujahed, said he had reports that
15 people were taken from the road and all been killed. His men were trying to locate the bodies, he said. Mujahed said the men were dragged from cars along the highway over the past several days. A spokesman for the Taliban, Zabihullah Mujahed, also said the militants had killed 15 "spies of the government" who had been captured on the road in recent days.
Prostitutes: The hard-line militia on Sunday shot dead two women whom they said were prostitutes and had worked for the police, a claim rejected by the government. President Hamid Karzai condemned the killing and several other recent militants attacks in his country, his office said in a statement.
The Taliban imposed a harsh version of Shariah law during their 1996-2001 rule of Afghanistan that included executions for various offences. They are now waging an insurgency against the new government and have killed several Afghans who work with the administration as part of a violent intimidation campaign that has also seen a wave of suicide bombings. In June, the Taliban based in Pakistan beheaded Afghans whom they had also accused of spying. Karzai met the families of the men in Kabul on Monday and vowed afterwards that their deaths would be "avenged."
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A vice-president of Jatiya Muktijoddha Parishad (JMP) yesterday said they receive "donations" from Jamaat-e-Islami for the "welfare" of freedom fighters and to mobilise freedom fighters in different activities.
Vice-president of JMP Engineer Abdur Rob said he along with many of the JMP leaders have great respect for Jamaat leaders. He also said many of their leaders support Jamaat even though they are not directly involved in Jamaat.
Meanwhile, several freedom fighters yesterday said three persons holding key positions in Jatiya Muktijoddha Parishad are not freedom fighters at all even though the JMP constitution claims that they are freedom fighters.
When asked whether the three (two JMP vice-presidents and its president) are freedom fighters as claimed by the JMP constitution, President of JMP Engineer Moslem Uddin and Secretary General Muhammad Iqbal refused to talk.
Abdur Rob, who at first had refused to talk, told The Daily Star over telephone, "We are in big trouble."
He said, "Yes, we take donations from different businessman, organisations including Jamaat-e-Islami and spend the money on the welfare of freedom fighters."
"Honesty of many Jamaat leaders calls for respect," he said, adding, "I along with many of our leaders have respect for Jamaat leaders who are more accountable than other political party leaders."
"If you ask me whether I am a supporter or an activist of Jamaat, I must say, I have great respect for Jamaat leaders," he said.
Engineer Moslem Uddin refused to talk to The Daily Star over telephone and invited the correspondent to tea for discussion.
When The Daily Star correspondent was talking to Abdur Rob, he handed the phone over to Moslem Uddin saying, "Talk to our president, he is right beside me." But Moslem refused to talk again.
Moslem Uddin is mentioned as a freedom fighter and the headquarter commander of sector-8 in the JMP constitution. But, Sector-8 Commander of Liberation War Col (retd) Abu Osman Chowdhury said that it is not true.
Abdul Latif, commander of Pabna Zila Muktijoddha Sangsad, told The Daily Star that he does not know any commander called Moslem Uddin. "If there was a commander by this name, I would certainly know him," he added.
In the JMP constitution, Abdur Rob is described as a freedom fighter and camp commander of the Liberation War who fought under the command of Maj Gen (retd) CR Dutta.
Dutta told The Daily Star that there was no camp commander named Abdur Rob under him.
Asked about Dutta's comments, Abdur Rob said it is unfortunate if someone denies fact.
In the JMP constitution, Fazlul Haq, another vice-president of JMP, is described as sub-sector commander of Noakhali area.
Col (retd) Jafar Imam told a Bangla newspaper Sunday that he knows all commanders who fought in greater Noakhali but he does not know any commander named Fazlul Haq.
A freedom fighter on Friday was assaulted by Islami Chhatra Shibir activists at Diploma Engineers' Institute in the city where Jamaat-backed Jatiya Muktijoddha Parishad was holding a representatives' conference.
The elderly freedom fighter came under attack as he in his address demanded punishment to the Jamaat men who were members of Al-Badr and "Peace Committee" during the Liberation War.
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Ma'an - International Quartet envoy Tony Blair will visit the Gaza Strip on Tuesday to inaugurate a new sewage project in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip, political advisor of the de facto foreign minister Ahmad Yousef said on Monday.
Yousef told Ma'an that Blair will also meet businessmen from the Gaza Strip, but that he was not planning any meetings with members of the de facto government.
He explained that the de facto government have security measures in place for Blair's visit, which he described as "a positive initiative for the Western World to consider the Palestinians' suffering." He added that he hoped the visit would initiate the end of the Israeli siege of the coastal sector.
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Back in 1947, as Pakistani irregulars battled in Jammu and Kashmir, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru laid out what remains the principal doctrinal challenge before New Delhis security strategists. India, Prime Minister Nehru said, was confronted not just with tribal irregulars, but "a well organised business with the backing of the State." As such, it had "in effect to deal with a State carrying out an informal war, but nevertheless a war."
Last week, infuriated by mounting evidence that Pakistans Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate organised the bombing of the Indian Embassy in Kabul, National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan proposed a solution:. "I think we need to pay back in the same coin". "Talk-talk is better than fight-fight," Mr. Narayanan concluded, "but it hasnt worked so far."
No Indian official has ever used language that even approaches that deployed by the NSA -- but more than a few in its covert services, including the former Intelligence Bureau chief, Ajit Doval, and his Research and Analysis Wing counterpart Vikram Sood, have long made a similar case.
Exactly what is it, though, that advocates of retaliation have in mind?
WASHINGTON - The United States criticized Russia on Monday for intentionally violating Georgian airspace by sending military aircraft over the rebellious Georgian region of South Ossetia. Sean McCormack, spokesman for the US State Department, said Russian activities in the former Soviet republic raise questions about Russia's role as peacekeeper and facilitator of the negotiations to find a solution to separatist movements that have kept South Ossetia and Abkhazia away from the control of the central Georgian government.
Russia said Friday that four of its planes circled over South Ossetia late Wednesday for about 40 minutes to head off a possible invasion by Georgian troops. Georgia threatened to shoot down planes Russian planes if the incursion is repeated.
The United States is concerned by the recent escalation in violence in the Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia and calls upon all sides to return to direct negotiations and resolve their differences peacefully, McCormack said. We are deeply troubled by Russias statement that its military aircraft deliberately violated Georgias internationally recognized borders.
In a statement issued late Monday, McCormack urged all countries, including Russia, to support Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders.
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#1
ION SPACEWAR > RUSSIA TO "NEUTRALIZE" US MISSLE DEFENCE THREAT, as per review and pre-approved steps vv Russ armed forces.
ALso from SPACEWAR > USA: REAL OR NOT IRAN MISSLE TESTS MUST STOP; + WORRIES OVER US FLEET [reactiv US $th Fleet in Caribbean] TO BE DISCUSSED IN BUENOS AIRES.
*TOPIX > BLOODY WAR BWTN MEXICO'S GOVT AND DRUG,CRIME BORDER GANGS BEGINS TO AFFECT CIVILIANS.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Global warming may increase kidney stones
District officials will begin accepting applications for hand gun permits in a few days, but the nation's capital will still have the most restrictive gun laws in the nation. 
(Xinhua) -- Four rebels of the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) were killed in an operation staged by Turkish security forces in southeastern Turkey, a Turkish military statement said on Monday. 
Taliban militants have taken serious note of anti-
Afghanistan said on Monday it would boycott a series of upcoming meetings with Pakistan unless "bilateral trust" was restored after attacks it blamed on its neighbour's intelligence and military.
LONDON - Britain will send 120 more troops to Iraq to help train the Iraqi army, a Ministry of Defence spokesman said Tuesday.
The ENOUGH Project is applauding the charges filed Monday by the International Criminal Court prosecutor against Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir. The organization, part of the Center for American Progress, has been calling for tough international action to end the violence in Sudan's Darfur region.
TEHERAN, Iran - Iran's hardline president said Monday he would welcome direct talks with the US if both parties are on equal footing, adding such talks could happen in the near future.
Two Algerians released from the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay have not been heard from since they were transferred two weeks ago to the custody of the North African country, a human rights group said Monday. 
Canada's federal court has rejected a US Army deserter's application for a stay of his deportation order. 
Dubai's Criminal Investigation Department says police have detained 79 people, mostly foreigners, over the past two weeks for indecent behaviour on several public beaches. Zuhair Haroun, a police spokesman, says they were picked up by police for "disturbing families enjoying the beach" with their behaviour. Haroun did not elaborate on the nature of the acts in question. Thousands of European and Asian expatriates live and work in Dubai, one of seven semi-independent states that form the United Arab Emirates, a conservative Muslim country. Foreigners hugely outnumber native Arab citizens in Dubai, the region's business hub and an increasingly popular destination for Western tourists.
In early June, about 300 fighters of various jihadi groups gathered in Rawalpindi for a secret gathering and agreed to resolve their differences and commit more fighters to Afghanistan. "The message was that the jihad in Kashmir is still continuing but it is not the most important right now. Afghanistan is the fighting ground, against the Americans there," said 
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is calling for U.S. combat troops to be withdrawn from Iraq by mid-2010. In an 
Local Taliban blew up a Frontier Constabulary (FC) fort in the Zargari area of Hangu on Monday, as security forces opened sporadic fire on suspected militant hideouts.
As Airbus and the commercial arm of Boeing busy themselves totting up $25bn (£12.5bn) worth of new aircraft orders, the military hardware makers are going for the kill. Literally. During Monday's aerial display at the Farnborough airshow, Lockheed Martin's F-22 fighter jet was the only aircraft that had not before seen at an airshow.
Two alleged gang members were killed early yesterday at Shyampur in the capital as they were caught in 'crossfire' between the Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) and the gang named 'Rozen Bahini'.
VIENNA - The International Atomic Energy Agency's governors will meet on Aug. 1 to consider India's draft plan for nuclear inspections submitted to help launch a US-Indian nuclear trade deal, IAEA officials said. If the governors approve the plan, India and the United States must win clearance from a 45-nation group that controls sensitive nuclear trade, then ratification by the US Congress for the three-year-old nuclear deal to take force.
India has pulled out of the two-day Indo-Pak bilateral talks of investigating agencies scheduled for Tuesday in Islamabad, sources told Daily Times on Monday. 
The NWFP government has released 25 Taliban under a peace pact signed with the Taliban based in Swat. Talking to reporters, Awami National Party (ANP) Senior Minister Bashir Ahmed Bilour said the provincial government was willing to resolve all disputes via dialogue and had released 25 Taliban in accordance with the peace pact. He said the remaining Taliban would also be freed soon, adding, "The peace dialogue will continue and the government will do everything possible to maintain peace in the province."
(Xinhua) -- The Russian government has apologized to Swiss Economics Minister Doris Leuthard after she was frisked and forced to remove her shoes at the St. Petersburg airport, the official Swissinfo news website reported on Monday. 
Wholesale prices in India grew by 11.89% in the year to the end of June, the fastest rate since the measure began in 1995. Inflation has tripled over the last six months, driven by the soaring cost of food and fuel.
The 
France is celebrating Bastille Day.
WASHINGTON - The United States criticized Russia on Monday for intentionally violating Georgian airspace by sending military aircraft over the rebellious Georgian region of South Ossetia. Sean McCormack, spokesman for the US State Department, said Russian activities in the former Soviet republic raise questions about Russia's role as peacekeeper and facilitator of the negotiations to find a solution to separatist movements that have kept South Ossetia and Abkhazia away from the control of the central Georgian government.
